Hillside
Poetry
Stage

The Hillside Poetry Stage will run from 2-4pm on Saturday June 24.

Just around the corner from Skeleton Park (enter near the corner of Sydenham St & Bay St. or North St. & Montreal St.) this adorable little park will feature renowned local poets such as Helen Humphreys, Jason Heroux, Armand Ruffo, Sadiqa deMeijer, accompanied by musicians Nathan Lawr, Jenny Whiteley and Fred Penner.  The Hillside Poetry Stage will be hosted by Kingston’s beloved poetry impresario, Bruce Kauffman and co-presented by Novel Idea and Kingston WritersFest.

Poet Laureate Helen Humphreys is the author of four books of poetry, six novels, and two works of creative non-fiction. She was born in Kingston-on-Thames, England, and now lives in Kingston, Ontario.

For Sadiqa de Meijer, the Skeleton Park neighbourhood is solid ground for dreaming of elsewhere – of landscapes held in memory, in books, or in her child’s palms. She has learned volumes from the wonderful community of local writers. Her poems have appeared in Poetry Magazine and on the Toronto Poetry Map, and were awarded the CBC Poetry Prize. Her first book, Leaving Howe Island, was nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the Governor General’s Literary Award.

Jason Heroux is the author of four poetry collections, Memoirs of an Alias, Emergency Hallelujah, Natural Capital, and most recently Hard Work Cheering Up Sad Machines (Mansfield Press, 2016). His poetry has appeared in chapbooks and magazines in Canada, the US, Belgium, France, and Italy, and is featured in the anthologies Best Canadian Poetry in English 2008 and 2011 and 2016. He lives in Kingston, Ontario.

Armand Garnet Ruffo was born in Chapleau, northern Ontario, and draws on his Ojibway heritage for his writing. His publications include Water Lily Woman, a long poem, (Textualis Press, 2017); An Introduction to Indigenous Literary Criticism (Broadview, 2016); The Thunderbird Poems (Harbour Publishing, 2015); and Norval Morrisseau: Man Changing Into Thunderbird (D&M, 2014), nominated for a Governor General’s Literary Award.  His is currently the “Queen’s National Scholar in Indigenous Literature” at Queen’s University in Kingston.