In Peterborough, Ontario, Canada there is a significant writers and poets and here in one example of the events they organize....From a Press Release.
The Cooked and Eaten International Poetry Month Twelve Hour Poetry MarathonFriday, April 13, 2007 - 9am to 9pm
Evening event starting at 7pm at Sadlier HouseBands at 9:30pmOver 80 poets are poised to participate in The Cooked and Eaten International Poetry Month Twelve Hour Poetry Marathon.Across Canada poets will be standing up and reading their poetry out loud in celebration of Poetry Month.
People are reading in Peterborough, Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Salt Spring Island, Lund, Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Montreal, Hamilton and many places in between.Poets are presenting themselves in bookstores and schools, at bus stops, under trees in forests, by beaches, on the bus, under public monuments and in sculpture parks, maybe a poet is reading somewhere near you.Poets will begin reading at 9am on Friday, April 13, 2007 and will read for fifteen minutes each, every fifteen minutes on the fifteen minute mark.There is a group, Writers & Company, in Kingston who are filling their own eight hours at their local Chapters.
There are several small groups reading together including Peterborough's chapter of the Canadian Authors Association who will be at the Spill in Peterborough from noon to 3pm. There's even a poet reading in Cuba.For a complete schedule, go to www.cookedandeaten.com/archives/events/20070413.html.
The evening will culminate with a night of lyricists and their bands, organized by the intrepid Jill Staveley and presented at Sadlier House. If you are in Peterborough, come by at 7:00pm on April 13th and catch the last eight poets and then rock out to our poetic bands.The poets will be recording their activities on the day and we hope to set up a blog where these recordings, photos, videos, etc. will be posted.What is this all about? This is an opportunity for you to take a moment out of your day to notice the poetry all around you.
The poetry of everyday life. On April 13th poetry will be brought to life across the country. The day after? It will still be there, perhaps more silent, but still there. Take time to look for it, when you can.If you're interested in reading there's still some time to sign up, but slots are almost completely filled up
I have had over 60 individual poets sign up. Two or three groups are putting together their own readings/marathons. And Kingston has franchised the idea and is having their own Cooked and Eaten International Poetry Month Twelve Hour Poetry Marathon.People are reading in Toronto, Ottawa, Cornwall, Salt Spring Island, Lund, Victoria, Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, all across Canada and maybe one poet in Cuba. Our poets will be presenting themselves in bookstores, schools, bus stops, hospitals, under trees in forests, by beaches, on the bus, at a riding stable, maybe somewhere near you.
The evening will culminate with a night of lyricists and their bands, organized by the intrepid Jill Stavely and presented at the fabulous Sadlier House. If you are in Peterborough, come by at 7:30 on April 13th and catch the last hour of poets and then rock out to our poetic bands.Keep checking back with this page. We will be posting the full schedule in the next week or so. And after the event we will start to post poets records of their readings. Photos, video, audio, sketches and some of the poems themselves.
There's still some time to sign up, but slots are filling up. Get in touch if you or someone you know should be stading up and shouting for poetry on Friday, April 13th.update: Feb 28th, 2007Recent POETRY MARATHON news:I've been overwhelmed with interest in this project. Thanks so much. Keep those e-mails coming.Please be patient if it takes me time to respond. I do all this on a volunteer basis with the generous help of a few volunteer board members so sometimes it goes a little slowly...Also, it may take some time to recruit people to record this. I'm getting enough response that it could be pretty big. If you have the means to record yourself, or if you live outside Peterborough and are interested in arranging recording for you and a couple other poets, please let me know.
Thanks-Esther Vincent=====Posted to the Cooked and Eaten mailing list Jan 15th, 2007:1) POETS (performance poets, lyricists, sonnet-eers, greeting card writers, all welcome)We need 48 poets who would be interested in taking part in the Cooked and Eaten International Poetry Month Marathon. Each poet will read for 15 minutes. This event will take place Friday, April 13th from 9 am until 9 pm. Although The Cooked and Eaten Reading Series originates in Peterborough, Ontario, the readings will occur wherever the poet (that's you) happens, or chooses to be.
I am expecting poets/lyricists/etc. to perform/read in restaurants and cafés, on street corners, in shopping malls, on the bus, in the hall at Otonabe college, next to a tree in a forest with no-one there to hear it... I also hope to have people reading not only in Peterborough but in Toronto, Vancouver, Wakefield, Hungary, wherever you are.All I need from you is 15 minutes of poetry, a preferred time that you'd like to read (any even quarter of the hour will do) and and an agreement that if someone can be found to audio record, photograph or videotape your performance you'll let us record you.
If you have the capcity to record your reading yourself or have a friend who can help, this would be great.I will put out a "program" a week before the event that will list the poets and where/when you are reading so that your fans can find you.Don't be shy. This is about bringing poetry in all it's forms into all the corners of daily life. If you've got fifteen minutes of poems, or can make one poem last 15 minutes, you're in. If you're not sure if what you do is poetry, get in touch and we can figure it out.Please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested. Also please note that I can't pay anyone for this.Send your info to readings@cookedandeaten.com
