Speculative poetry borrows techniques from fiction, using storytelling’s narrative, character, and plot while still eating language alive. As Romie Stott at Strange Horizons describes it: “Poetry’s intense, elevated language lends itself to the exploration of larger-than-life—or the profoundly intimate. It scales up to eternity and down to the subatomic. Speculative poetry is on a scale that is not merely human.” Panelists Nisa Malli, Rebecca Salazar, Adèle Barclay, and Serena Lukas Bhandar will explore what poetry and poetic form bring to sci-fi, fantasy, and horror; how to tell stories within a poem or across a collection; and the potential to create spaces in which marginalized communities can (re)imagine themselves. Moderated by Domenica Martinello.
Event Type: Panel
Event Code: MAS/SAT-6
Venue: Massy Books
Date: Saturday, March 14, 7:30pm – 9:30pm
Cost: Pay What You Can (recommended: $12.50)
ASL Interpretation Available by Request Before February 15, 2020
Domenica Martinello is a writer from Montreal, QC, and the author of All Day I Dream about Sirens (Coach House Books, 2019).Emma Healey’s latest book of poems, Stereoblind, was published in 2018 by House of Anansi. She’s currently working on a nonfiction book for Penguin Random House Canada.
Nisa Malli is a speculative writer and a realistic researcher, born in Winnipeg and living in Toronto. Her first chapbook, Remitting, was published by Baseline Press.
Rebecca Salazar (she/they) has written two poetry chapbooks, edits poetry for The Fiddlehead and Plenitude magazines, and co-hosts the Elm & Ampersand podcast.
Serena Lukas Bhandar is a Punjabi/Welsh/Irish transfemme witch, youth worker, and facilitator living as a settler on Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ lands. Her Pushcart Prize-nominated writing has appeared in print in Nameless Woman and Turn This World Inside Out: The Emergence of Nurturance Culture. She is currently working on a novel and a hybrid collection of essays and poetry.