A few things, poetry-wise…penny-wise,
Arc is looking for $10,000 in donations to put a poetry youth issue of the magazine in classrooms across the country. They’re about $2,500 in so far.
If you want to give words towards poetry, you can throw some to Sachiko Murakami who is crowd-sourcing stories and fragments from airports for her next poetry manuscript.
In Ottawa, VERSeFest’s Indiegogo is at $2810 donated for Ottawa’s poetry festival, one of the spring literary festivals gearing up nationally.
Over a dozen poetry reading series invite their choices of readers. The lineup is yet to be announced but BookThug mentions Christine McNair, Ken Babstock and Anne Simpson. above/ground gives the spoiler of Gil McElroy and Nicole Markotic and on Literary Landscapes names of invited poets include Matthew Sweeney and Rita Ann Higgins.
Want to help tip the pot of funding to $3000?
You can donate freeform. Any amount. How about a hand-written poem by Pulitzer Prize winner and National Book Award Winner Phillip Levine? Yours for $500 donation.
Or pick a form…
The Ghazal Level: $50
Your choice of:
- You’ll get a one-day pass of your choice, VIP seating plus cupcakes for two[!!], or
- a signed copy of the latest book by any of the festival performers both accompanied by all the perks for the lesser donations, and a tax receipt.
Quatrain Level: $20
You’ll receive a refreshment ticket good for one drink of your choice of water, pop, beer or wine. You’ll get a frameable VERSeFest poster autographed by the organizing committee, a VERSeFest name tag indicating that you’re a festival supporter. And we’ll include a VERSeFest button, plus a receipt for an income tax deduction.
The Rhyming Couplet Level: $10
Donors will get a VERSeFest name tag indicating that you’re a festival supporter. And we’ll include a VERSeFest button.
Every bit helps, as demonstrated by Bell’s Let’s Talk. Yesterday that raised $4,418,313 from 96,266,266 calls, texts, tweets and shares. With each Retweet came a 5ยข donation; participation added up to $4645.25!
The final figure has yet to come in from the A-Frame fundraiser on the Feb 6th event but A-frame group at FB, Jean says it’s made over $14,000. The goal is to bring Purdy’s place up to code, weather-tight and ready to house writers-in-residence and retreats for writers again. You can donate online at AlPurdy.ca or by mail:
The Al Purdy A-frame Trust
4403 West 11th Ave.,
Vancouver BC
V6R 2M2