Events › Verses of Power: Black Poets Speak Out

This Black History Month, we will be hosting some of the most exciting and essential Black voices in Canada as they perform powerful works of spoken word poetry.

Poets Brandon Wint, fanny kearse, and Adonis King have been sharing their poems in and around Vancouver for years, and we’re thrilled to bring them together for one special night of live readings. In addition to the live readings, we will also be screening poignant and poetic short films by Black filmmakers. Come hear these poets perform their work and celebrate the incredible talent, diversity, and impact of Black artistry.

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Brandon Wint is an Ontario-born poet, spoken word artist, educator and filmmaker based in western Canada. For more than a decade, Brandon has been a sought-after touring performance poet, having shared his work all over Canada, and internationally at festivals and showcases in the United States, Australia, Jamaica, Latvia and Lithuania. Brandon is ever-grateful for the power of poetry as a spiritual technology and social force. He is devoted to using poetry as a tool for refining his sense of justice, love, and intimacy.

fanny kearse, a Black-Queer-Jewish-Disabled human, a recovering people-pleaser and overachiever. A late bloomer, dreamer, and community tender, fanny took nearly a decade worth of experiences as a social worker and doula and headed west. Their art explores themes of self-reclamation and connection to land, grief as a guide, pain as a portal to the divine and the joy of unbecoming. fanny facilitates poetry workshops in schools, community centres and with corporate clients.

Adonis Critter King is a Black, non-binary, multi-disciplinary artist, director, producer, and activist based on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. They were the 2016 Youth Poet Laureate of Victoria, the 2017 recipient of the VACCS Community recognition Award, and in 2020 they received the Witness Legacy Award for Social Purpose and Responsibility Through Art.