In honor of National Poetry Month this April, Plume Winnipeg (formerly known as the Winnipeg International Writers Festival) is inviting poets from across Manitoba to submit their works for the annual Writes of Spring initiative. Poets of all backgrounds, styles, and geographic locations have the opportunity to submit their poems for a chance to earn publication, cash prizes, and a live reading.
This year’s Writes of Spring is particularly significant, marking the 10th anniversary of the project, which was initially launched as a collaboration with the Winnipeg Free Press.
Ariel Gordon, an accomplished poet and author, is behind the initiative. Reflecting on its origins, Gordon says, “I started sort of out in the wilderness on my own.” Having freelanced for the Winnipeg Free Press for several years, she had the idea to bring poets together and share their works during National Poetry Month. “I had one of my midnight ideas where I just wrote my editor and said, ‘Hey, would you like to do a National Poetry Month project where we have poems in the paper?’”
Although the way poems are shared through Writes of Spring has evolved over the years, Gordon notes that the poems themselves have remained largely the same. “We’ve always gotten the same mix of newcomers and established poets and everyone in between,” she explains. “My main challenge is trying to get the call for submissions into as many communities as possible, because we have such diverse communities here, but not everyone gets their information from the same places.”
To participate in Writes of Spring, aspiring poets must submit unpublished works that are no longer than 25 lines. Participants must also be Manitoba residents. Twelve poems will be selected for publication in the Winnipeg Free Press and presented at a public reading at McNally Robinson Booksellers.
Gordon encourages anyone hesitant to submit, offering a warm invitation: “You will never find a group of people like the audiences that come for Writes of Spring. You will never find a group of people more welcoming and happy to hear your poems. We’re just happy to read anyone’s effort and work and thoughts put on paper.”
The deadline for submissions is March 30, and the chosen poems will be presented at a live reading event at McNally Robinson Booksellers, Grant Park location, at 2 p.m. on April 27.
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