One of the poets you’ll see a lot of at Festival of Health Research this year will be Sheri-D Wilson, the Mama of Dada. Sheri-D has produced an incredible amount of work over the years: spoken word plays, books, videos, multimedia projects, and festivals. The founder and long-time director of the Spoken Word program at The Banff Centre and the director of the Calgary Spoken Word Festival, Sheri-D also oversaw the creation of one of the most valuable poetic resources in the country: The Spoken Word Workbook.
Her most recent foray into the published word is the collection, “Open Letter: Women Against Violence Against Women” (which you can get a copy of here.) Words can’t really describe the impact of reading this collection, but here’s as good a summary as you’ll get:
This evocative book binds the ancient past with the distant future – by reclaiming the present. It is a recitation and a prayer of reconciliation, whether expressed in radical chant filled with the optimism of healing or in the Celtic lament of a cunning passage-play.
Open Letter is a hymn that revisits the poet’s adolescence with the extended tension of a Deirdre of the Sorrows. It is an incantation heard in the beat of a Bodhrán, Calling the Taliesin in, through which everything flows, from River to lyric Stone. But mostly it is a epistle to the world, to all those who have been harmed and seek a path to recovery.
Conceived out of improvisation, this collage of thresholds and crossings zeroes-in on the topic of violence against women, with wisdom and poignant insight. Prepare to be moved to action as Open Letter compares the desecration of the earth to the treatment of women.
Sheri-D shoots down misogyny as easily as she shoots the breeze.
Photo credit: David Johns.
Sheri-D Wilson will be part of two events and will teach a master class at Festival of Health Research 2014:
“Pictures of Sound,” 4:00-6:00 PM at Victoria Event Centre, October 14
“Tomfowlery,” 4:00-6:00 PM at Rifflandia HQ, October 15
“Master Class: Sheri-D Wilson,” 12:00-2:00 PM, Rifflandia HQ, October 16
Sheri-D Wilson has 9 collections of poetry—most recent—Open Letter: Woman against Violence against Women; following Goddess Gone Fishing for a Map of the Universe; 5 plays, 2 CDs, 4 Video-Poems, & 1 ballet for Ballet BC. She also edited the celebrated, The Spoken Word Workbook: inspiration from poets who teach.
Recipient of: 2013 CBC Top 10 Poets in Canada * 2006 Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry * 2005 SpoCan Poet of Honour * People’s Choice * 2006 Woman of Vision * 5 Rosies * 2003 USA Heavyweight Title * 5 Jessie Nominations * Ace Award * & Nominated The Canadian Author Who Would Make The Best LOVER!”
Featured in Chatelaine Magazine, a regular on CBC, a Ted-Talk, and the subject of a half-hour documentary Heart of a Poet, et cetera. Of the beat tradition, in 1989 she studied at Naropa University (Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics).
Artistic Director—The Calgary Spoken Word Festival (2003-present)
Founder & Director—Spoken Word Program @ Banff Centre (2005-2012)