April is National Poetry Month!
Here's where I'll be, celebrating poetry, poets, poems... and plays!
Saturday, April 2, 2pm ET: Zoom. You're invited to attend Poets in Response to Peril, an online event in which poets from the anthology POEMS in RESPONSE to PERIL offer reflections and poems on the power and limitations of poetry in times of crisis. Registration: https://rsitoski.com/event-details/poets-in-response-to-peril. Featured poets are up on https://www.youtube.com/user/veggiemeister/playlists. See “Piercing Hearts”, https://lfpress.com/entertainment/local-arts/poets-are-talking-tough-and-their-words-make-a-difference.
Saturday, April 2, 2:30pm ET: Zoom. In celebration of Ellen S. Jaffe, a video of reading my poem, "Homage to Ellen S. Jaffe, Poet". Listen to it on "Poets in Response to Peril", https://www.youtube.com/user/veggiemeister/playlists.
Sunday, April 3, 1pm ET: Join our Zoom launch of Season 8, Gap Riot Press! Launching P.S., my new collection of poetry in dialogue with BC poet Sharon Thesen. Details to be posted on https://www.gapriotpress.com. Available now for $10: https://www.gapriotpress.com/shop/p/penn-kemp-sharon-thesen-p-s! Zoom: https://trentu.zoom.us/j/96721250873?pwd=QkdLbTd2ZkkydzNZMUJhcnl3MldSQT09. Passcode: 504766
Thursday, April 7, 7pm ET: Zoom reading and discussion with Huron Literary Society at Western University to encourage young writers on all aspects, esp. theatre. I will talk about the urgency of writing as an expression of hope... and take questions. With presenters Vanessa Brown and Yoda Olinyk. Contact: <lschwa22@uwo.ca>. My reading is sponsored by Playwrights Guild of Canada.
Sunday, April 10, 2pm ET: Live! Our theme is the environment and eco-poetry. London Open Mic, Mykonos Restaurant, 572 Adelaide St N, London, ON N6B 3J5. I am launching P.S. (Gap Riot Press) https://www.gapriotpress.com/archive/penn-kemp-sharon-thesen-ps. I’ll read from THE TRIUMPH OF TERESA HARRIS to celebrate this intrepid conservationist. Guest readers include Jennifer Chesnut, London Library’s Environmentalist-in-Residence; Richard-Yves Sitoski, Owen Sound Poet Laureate; Andreas Gripp and Jennifer Wenn. My reading is sponsored by Playwrights Guild of Canada. Contact: scryingsolo@gmail.com. https://lfpress.com/entertainment/local-arts/london-poet-driving-force-behind-new-anthology-of-poems-about-war-in-ukraine
Sunday, April 10, 2022, 7:30pm. Earth Speaks: A musical meditation on our collective responsibility to the planet. Chor Amica, Patrick Murray, guest conductor. Performance of ecopoetry and pre-concert talk with Jennifer Chesnut on poetry and local environmental justice, conservation, and awareness initiatives. Oakridge Presbyterian Church, 970 Oxford St. W. London ON N6H 1V4. $25. https://www.choramica.ca/concerts.html
Sunday, May (date TBA), 2pm ET. Live! The Launch of Poems in Response to Peril: an Anthology (Pendas Productions/Laughing Raven). London Open Mic, Mykonos Restaurant, 572 Adelaide St N, London, ON N6B 3J5. Readers: Penn Kemp, Richard-Yves Sitoski, and other local contributors to the anthology as well as surprise guests. Of our 300 print run, we have 150 pre-orders. Keep 'em coming! Poems in Response to Peril: an Anthology is dedicated to the poets of Ukraine from 48 Canadian poets. My reading is sponsored by The League of Canadian Poets. Contact: scryingsolo@gmail.com.
and earlier...
Friday, March 25, 7pm: Live! The Aeolian Hall, London ON. I read poems for peace at the benefit for Ukraine with Loreena McKennitt and so many more London artists! https://aeolianhall.ca/events/ukraine-2.
Here’s a poem I read. It is up on https://www.youtube.com/user/veggiemeister/videos, along with poems from our anthology that poets are reading and more! If you have a poem or song for POETS IN RESPONSE TO PERIL, do send your video reading to Rico Sitoski, email r_sitoski@yahoo.ca.