Events Calendar

Unwritten Thursdays Vol.8: April 18th @ Tyrant Studios (1019 Seymour st.)

City Poems: Seasoned jazz performers will improvise music to accompany four acclaimed local spoken word artists as they perform pieces inspired by the city.

9pm doors

9:30pm show (two sets)

$15-20 suggested donation (NOTAFLOF)

Presented by Coastal Jazz and Barking Sphinx

Musicians: Feven Kidane, John Gross, Lisa Cay Miller, Théo Girard, Josh Zubot

Poets: Tawahum, Jillian Christmas, Johnny Trinh, RC Weslowski, Fiona Tinwei Lam

Tawahum is a Łutselkʼe Dene and Plains Nehiyaw spoken word poet from unceded Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Territory (CKA Vancouver). Their Two-Spirit, Nonbinary Scorpio-moon angst boils over to showcase their sadboi rage. With a BA in Creative Writing from KPU, Tawahum has performed poetry and hip-hop at countless festivals with poems featured in numerous publications. Cut to Fortress was published by Nightwood Editions in 2022 with this new collection to come 2025.

Jillian Christmas is a queer, afro-caribbean writer, artist, educator, curator and consultant, the long-time spoken word curator of the Vancouver Writers Fest, the former artistic director of Verses Festival of Words and the inaugural poet-in-residence at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Jillian is the recipient of the 2021 Sheri-D Golden Beret Award for Spoken Word Poetry and the 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ emerging writers. She has won numerous Grand Poetry Slam Championship titles and represented both Toronto and Vancouver at eleven national poetry events, notably breaking ground as the first Canadian to perform on the final stage of the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Her debut collection, The Gospel of Breaking (Arsenal Pulp Press 2020), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award.

Johnny D Trinh is the Artistic Director of Vancouver Poetry House and Founder of Stage to Page Performance Society. Additional highlights: a 2024 Writer-in-residence at the Historic Joy Kogawa House, Artist-in-residence at the Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre, Banff Spoken Word Residency Alumnus. Johnny holds a MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies focusing on Community-Engaged Art and Autoethnography. “It takes a community to build an artist … whether we are nurtured by it, or resist against it.”

RC Weslowski is an award-winning poet, broadcaster, podcaster, clown and MC. He’s performed at and led workshops at festival across Turtle Island and parts of Europe.

Emcee: Fiona Tinwei Lam is Vancouver’s 6th poet laureate, and the author of 3 collections of poetry and a children’s book.