Re-Sounding Poetries: Collections Classrooms Communities

Join us for a curated program of plenary discussions, workshops, performances, and exhibitions.

Over the past seven years, SpokenWeb has processed literary audio collections, described them with metadata, researched their contents, made them discoverable through web platforms, and devised new ways of working with audio materials in scholarship. Now that literary collections across Canada are more discernible than ever, it’s time to make collections public – to “re-sound” them – through research-creation and teaching.

The SpokenWeb SSHRC Partnership’s final sound institute will be held in-person in various events, including UBCO and downtown Kelowna, from May 14 to 17, 2025. The SpokenWeb SSHRC project and conference are presented in partnership with the AMP Lab at UBC Okanagan.

This four-day gathering will function like an immersive summer camp experience for student and faculty researchers, archivists, librarians, artists, and members of diverse communities to engage creatively and critically with archival audio.

The conference will offer panel discussions, workshops on podcasting and spoken word performances with an open mic hosted by the Inspired Word Café. There will also be three exhibitions of curated archival materials and research projects, curated by UBCO graduate students Slava Bart, Sarah Cipes, and Erin Scott.

Participants will also have the opportunity to create new sonic poetries. Registration, programming and event information can be found via the link below.

Events open to the public at no charge include:

• The opening plenary discussion, “Institutions, Archives, and Data: Critical Issues,” featuring Drs. Jason Camlot (Concordia University), Deanna Fong (Independent), Deanna Reder (Simon Fraser University), and Wendy Wong (UBCO), at the Innovation Centre, 460 Doyle Street, May 15 from 9:30 to 11 am
• A SpokenWeb showcase at the Okanagan Regional Library’s downtown branch where the public can interact with literary audio collections from across Canada, May 15 1:30 to 4 pm
• The Inspired Word Café open mic poetry reading, hosted by Cole Mash and Erin Scott, at BNA Burger, 1254 Ellis Street, May 15, 7 to 9 pm,
• The exhibition opening and feature reading by poets Daphne Marlatt, Sharon Thesen, and Fred Wah, at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, 103-421 Cawston Avenue, May 16, 7 to 9 pm