Indigenous Poetics Workshop, happening November 4th and 5th, 2010, at Trent University will bring together Indigenous poets, academics and traditional knowledge keepers from across Canada to explore the centrality of language, narrative memory and metaphor in Indigenous cultures. Students are invited to sign up to participate in the workshop. The artists will be reading from their collected works in the evenings that are open to the public.

Sounding Out was conceived in conjunction with a workshop on Indigenous poetics being held concurrently at Trent University and retains links to that workshop, but the gathering is a public event. Both graduate and undergraduate students will be invited to participate in the workshop. Sounding Out Indigenous Poetics celebrates the rich poetic traditions of Indigenous peoples across Canada by bringing together acclaimed and burgeoning Indigenous poetic artists and traditional knowledge keepers as well as Indigenous and non-Indigenous academics and students to explore the centrality of language, narrative memory, and metaphor in Indigenous cultures. The culmination of the workshop will be an anthology of critical essays and poetry published by Wilfred Laurier Press in 2012.

In the evenings, the artists will share some of their work through public readings, followed by a reception each night for people to continue the discussion of Indigenous poetics both amongst themselves and with the authors. The evening readings will be free to both students and the public. Another key component of the Poetics gathering and readings is the building of bridges between academia, Indigenous writers, the public, and high school students.

Objectives

This event has many objectives that are interrelated to one another. The first objective is to gather Indigenous poets together to offer them, and the academic community, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike, the opportunity to address current issues related to the wide spectrum of "Indigenous poetics."

The second objective of this workshop is to make the results of these discussions available to students, writers, teachers, and readers of Indigenous poetry; the ensuing publication of the anthology will ensure that these discussions will continue beyond the workshop at Trent and act as a starting point for new conversations about Indigenous poetics to occur.

Another objective is to reach out to the public through the evening readings and receptions. The public outreach component is multilayered. For instance, we wish to showcase the power, aesthetics, and vitality of Indigenous poetry and Indigenous poets in Canada. Another layer is to highlight Trent University and the Indigenous Studies Department to not only the public, but also to potential university students by inviting grades 11 and 12 students to participate in a poetry contest where those selected will have a private dinner with the authors at the university.

the Workshop

The workshop is aimed at creating a space where interaction and dialogue between students, professional academics, community members, and Indigenous writers can occur. Some of the questions to be addressed in the workshop include: Is there such a thing as an Indigenous poetic voice or sensibility, and if so, what constitutes such a voice or sensibility? What is the relationship between Indigenous language(s) we write and the world of ‘real’ things, in particular the landscape and non-human beings? What is the relationship between Indigenous languages and the English language in contemporary Indigenous poetry and between Indigenous oral traditions and contemporary Indigenous written poetry? What are the poetic characteristics of Indigenous oral traditions, and what can Indigenous poets learn from those traditions, in particular storytelling and poetry as performances. The answers to those questions will, in part, form the critical essays and creative pieces in the anthology.

The Importance of This Workshop for Indigenous Poetics in Canada

Currently, there are a number of fine anthologies of Canadian Indigenous literatures; however, missing from this collection are books by Indigenous authors and editors that focus on the tools and techniques (and the philosophies embedded therein) of Indigenous poets, specifically, those that make their poetry socially and culturally unique. While there has been an explosion of critical engagement with Indigenous literatures in general, there are few that focus on specifics. This workshop/event and anthology will be one of the first of its kind in Canada devoted solely to Indigenous Poetics.

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