To a rapt audience of students at the Champlain College Living Learning Commons, internationally published poet and poetry activist Jill Battson read from her new book Dark Star Requiem in honour of World AIDS day. Ms. Battson was passionate in her reading to the small group, using tone and rhythm to inform a rich and meaningful tapestry of words.

Dark Star Requiem’s cycle of poems reflects on the realities of the 25-year history of the worldwide AIDS pandemic with astonishing power. As she read from the work, Ms. Battson shone a light on those affected by the fear, confusion and devastation the disease has wrought. Following the reading, a question and answer session, led by Dr. Michael Allcott, head of Champlain College, brought out questions of the poet’s intentions with regard to the politics of AIDS, international implications and the poetic devices employed for creative effect.

Dark Star Requiem was also recorded as a dramatic oratorio performed by Tapestry New Opera with music composed by Andrew Staniland, co-produced by Tapestry and Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts and Creativity. CBC Radio 2 will broadcast a recording of the world premiere of Dark Star Requiem between 10:00 p.m. and midnight on World AIDS Day, Dec 1. Listeners will be able to follow the text and view production images online at http://www.tapestrynewopera.com/.

The Toronto Star called the oratorio “Artistically adventurous and intellectually provocative.” Classical Music Guide called it “a ‘tapestry’ quite consistently mesmerizing to the collective senses and conscience of the rapt audience” and “a work of vital  . . . lasting, thought-provoking power.”

Jill Battson is an internationally published poet and poetry activist. She has been widely featured in literary journals and anthologies in North America and the UK and has performed her work around the globe. Hard Candy, her first book, was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Award. She has also written several plays and solo works, including Ecce Homo – an enhanced monologue for dance and voice that premiered at Peterborough New Dance/Public Energy’s Emergency festival. Recently, she has written the libretti for two short operas, Netsuke and Ashlike on the Cradle of the Wind produced by Toronto’s Tapestry New Opera Works. Her last book of poems, Ashes are Bone and Dust, was published by Insomniac Press, and her new book of poems, Dark Star Requiem, has just been published by Folded & Gathered Press.

Ms. Battson is also scheduled to read at 8:00 p.m. at The Sapphire Room on Hunter Street as a part of PARN: Your Community AIDS Resource Network’s AIDS Awareness Week 2010.