- Kate Braid
Nanaimo’s first-ever Mayworks Poetry Festival of Working Class Culture began today with feature readings by Kate Braid and me, Kim Goldberg, plus lots of dynamite readers at the open mic, and a fabulous free workshop on Writing About Your Work delivered by Kate.
Mary Ann Moore
Kim Goldberg
The whole thing took place in the main exhibition hall of the Nanaimo Museum downtown on Commercial Street where we read our work-based poems while surrounded by artefacts and displays of Nanaimo’s rich labour history – from the coal mines to the log booms to the railroad.
- Elaine Woo
The Festival continues on May 21 with readings from David Fraser and Wendy Morton.
Show up at 1:00 pm and be interviewed by one of our two featured poets, who will then write you a short poem on the spot. Open mic begins at 2:00 pm, followed by our featured poets. And it’s all free!
Sponsored by: Nanaimo Duncan & District Labour Council, Wordstorm Society for the Arts, Nanaimo Museum, League of Canadian Poets, and Canada Council for the Arts.
David Fraser was our emcee
Pig Squash Press 
Interesting post and really beautiful images, love it!
warmly
marinela
Motivational Poems
What a great idea to organize such a festival.
Really enjoyed the first Nanaimo May Works. Was really a lot of fun participating too, See you on the 21 st.
Excellent, Larry! And bring a poem for the open mic again. 😉
What a wonderful-sounding event! The photos are terrific, especially the way they’re ‘matched up’ across the page — the giganto tree, ouch! That would have supplied Kate Braid with enough wood to build two houses, I am sure.
Best of luck with the coming events in the series. Way to go!