Tag Archives: Anita Aguirre Nieveras

World Poetry Celebrates Oswald Okaitei from Ghana!

Ariadne’s Notes: Oswald Okaitei, World Poetry Theatre Director and multi-award winner, called in from Accra, Ghana at 1:40 pm PST with interactive song and poetry poems. It was great to hear what he is doing and the possibility that he may visit Canada in August. We also want to thank him for his warm words about World Poetry Canada International and how our belief in him has helped. The World Poetry Café had an enchanting show on April 27, 2017, CFRO 100.5 FM with poets from Israel and Ghana phoning in.

World Poetry team: Ariadne Sawyer, MA, producer and host, co-host Anita Aguirre Nieveras , Super tech, Victor Schwartzman , special volunteers, Sharon Rowe and Willow, the dog.

To LISTEN CLICK HERE!

POET OSWALD IS 5 YEARS.

A product of the famous but erstwhile “By The Fireside”, Oswald Okaitei celebrates 5 years of actively pursuing his passion for poetry on May 5, 2017.

That makes up for a lot of fives in his life and on that day, his birthday, he again takes to the stage at the Pan African Writers Association (PAWA) House in Accra to celebrate his fifth year in the Creative Arts.

Whoever actually achieves anything at the age of five? That, of course, isn’t the kind of age at which people hit the world stage with anything in particular. But that is where the bus stops with the 5 international award-winning poet and playwright, Oswald Okaitei.

Five years into his career as a poet, Spoken word artiste & Creative Artpreneur, Oswald has done and seen things in the industry that can only be tagged as instrumental.

His has been a story of motivation fueled from having stepped out of the university, hopeful, like most of his kind, of securing a good government job only to be so disappointed when he found out that there was a ban on government employments.

Itching to remain active even without someone having to pay him to execute a job, he fell on the one thing that not even money can buy—his gift. And his gift was in the ability to beautifully string words together into thought-provoking poetry and music.

Today, Oswald has broken frontiers as one of the youngest and fast-rising poets who have performed on big stages with the best of the best in the industry—the likes of Muta Baruka, Pro. Atukwei Okai, Rocky Dawni, Prof. Kofi Anyidoho among others. His ability to blend rich Ghanaian folk music with his equally enchanting poetic lines is what has earned him many accolades and the opportunity to be featured on a lot of National & International platforms.

That said, he has also authored five (5) poetry collections—A WREATH TO AWOONOR, THE SAILOR’S SAIL IS OVER (For Komla Dumor), SONGS OF CONDOLENCE TO TACLOBAN, A BRIGHT LIGHT SLEEPS (For Maya Angelou) & MANDELA: THE SOUL OF HIS EARTH—and has been featured in several international anthologies (World Poetry Peace Anthology, Muse For Peace et al). Oswald has written quite a number of stage plays, notable are “IN THE BAG OF A WOMAN”, “IN MAN’S LIBIDO”, “BEAUTYFUL NONSENSE”, “WHO STOLE THE CASKET?” among others.

Oswald Okaitei is currently a World Poetry Director from Ghana, has five international awards to his credit—World Poetry Empowered Poet 2013, Pentasi B. Inspirational Poet, World Poetry Theatre Ambassador award, Global Baobab Award and recently, The Spoken word Artiste of the Year 2016.

The night of 5 May, will be one of dramatic poetry enactment, fused with rich music and dance, titled, Akua Ghana (Death before birth and 60 years on), in commemoration of Ghana’s 60th Anniversary. The night will also see the launch of yet another book from the poet and author titled TEARS AND joy AT 60, with a foreword by the celebrated academician, former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana & former President of Ghana Academy of Arts & Science; Prof Akilagpa Sawyerr.

The time for the start of event is 5:00pm and as he assures the public, “This would be a night to surely remember!”

Entrance is free. One must only call or whatsapp +233 571 174 908 or +233 244 174 908 for invite.

The Special Guest of Honour is Nana Bright Oduro-Kwarteng (Chief Director, Ministry of Tourism, Arts & Culture).

Written by Etsey Atisu

World Poetry Celebrates Yaara Ben-David from Israel!

Ariadne’s Notes:

The World Poetry Café had an enchanting show on April 27, CFRO 100.5 FM with poets from Israel and Ghana phoning in. To LISTEN CLICK HERE!

Yaara Ben David phoned in at 1:10 pm PST, CFRO 100.5 FM. She read a poem in Hebrew and we listened to a lovely Clip of music based on her poem as well as hearing her profound thoughts on poetry. Her comments and lovely voice added a special quality to the interview.

Oswald Okaitei, World Poetry Theatre Director and multi-award winner, Called in from Accra, Ghana at 1:40 pm PST with interactive song and poetry poems. It was great to hear what he is doing and the possibility that he may visit Canada in August. We also want to thank him for his warm words about World Poetry Canada International and how our belief in him has helped.

Such a magical hour, E-poems by Robert w. McGregor (one in Spanish) and Katherine Gordon from her new collected and edited book called Piping at End of Days. I am honoured to be in

Also, the World Poetry Café radio Show Team of Host and producer Ariadne Sawyer, MA, co-host Anita Aguirre Nieveras, special tech, Victor Schwartzman , special volunteer and dog Willow did a wonderful job.

Yaara Ben-David is a veteran Israeli poet residing in Israel. To date, she has published nine books, of which seven are poetry books (including the new book “Blood Red Strawberries”) and two are a collection of essays on Israeli and international literary works. These books have received acclaim in Israel, earning awards and prizes.

Her poems, written in Hebrew, have been translated into various languages and published in literary publications worldwide. Dozens of her poems have been put to music and subsequently performed by well-known musicians. Her recently published book of poems, “Fragile Balance,” has been warmly received, lauded on the pages of literary journals and on Israeli radio programs.

Additionally, since 1970, Yaara Ben-David exhibits her collage works in galleries and various cultural centers in Israel. There is a bi-directional influence between her poetry and her collage works. Source: & www.contentoNow

The book is now available on:

The book is now available on Amazon.com
https://www.amazon.com/Blood-Red-Strawberries-Yaara-Ben-David-ebook/dp/B01MR6ZMZP

Reaffirmation

I buy myself rights

in this plot of time

in which one always pays

in blood-red strawberries,

to later draw the line for eyes

oblivious to their own longing.

The beauty is in the fruit that has ripened and slowly soured

and is already molded in the language

like a contradiction within itself.

‎

Yaara Ben-David (C) All rights reserved by the author.

World Poetry Celebrates Dee Hobsbawn-Smith!

Ariadne’s Notes: On April 20, 2017, 1PM on CFRO, 100.5 FM, the World Poetry Café welcomed the multitalented and powerful poetess, Dee Hobsbawn-Smith, retired chief and sustainable food advocate. Her words of advise and wisdom about food, cooking and poetry were absolutely empowering to all the listeners. She will be on tour in the coming months, including in B.C. For a list of her tour dates: www.deehobsbawnsmith.com

Thanks to the World Poetry café Team of Ariadne Sawyer, producer and host, Anita Aguirre Nieveras , super engineer, Victor Schwartzman special volunteer Sharon Rowe and volunteer Willow the dog. Music by Anthony Prosk (Gulf Island Suite) and Don Amero (CD, Refined)

A must hear show for the planet : CLICK HERE!

Photo by Shelley Banks.

dee hobsbawn-smith’s poetry, essays, fiction and journalism has appeared in newspapers, websites, magazines, anthologies and literary journals in Canada, the USA and Scotland, including Grain, Gastronomica: The Journal of Culture and Food, The Malahat Reiview, Prairie Fire, The Antigonish Review, Vallum, CV2, Freefall and others. In 2015-16, she served as the Saskatoon Public Library’s 35^th Writer in Residence. A retired chef and ex-restaurateur, she lives west of Saskatoon and earned her MFA in Writing at the University of Saskatchewan. She has published seven books. Foodshed: An Edible Albert Alphabet (Touchwood, 2012) won three international awards for its unflinching examination of the politics and challenges of small-scale sustainable food production. Her first collection of poetry, Wildness Rushing In (Hagios, 2014) was a finalist for Book of the Year and Best Poetry Collection at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. It was followed by her first short fiction collection, What Can’t Be Undone (Thistledown, 2015.) At present, she is working on her debut novel, an essay collection, and new poetry. Most recently, she has contributed to the SK poetry anthology, Line Dance (Burton Books, 2016), edited by Gerald Hill, and was part of a contingent of Canadian poets who read at The Bowery Poetry Club in New York City. www.deehobsbawnsmith.com

Red cedar

thirty years of your brother’s life

hanging in a cedar-lined closet under the back stairs.

~ Judith Krause, “A History of Shirts” from Mongrel Love

The cedar chest came from Lebanon, a gift.

In one corner, tiny clothes

I sewed for my sons.

Childhood never wears out.

It travels with me, that time. Before

I came to poetry, I lived it –

swung high swoops on redwood swings,

small sons on lap, leaped

like a leopard over fire hydrants at their urging.

In the chest, purple fleece vests outgrown

before the seams could strain or fade,

jesters’ hats, laid aside when they outgrew magic.

I wear their vests and hats now on my morning walks,

wrap myself in my sons’ childhood,

red cedar days that never wear out.

World Poetry Reading Series

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