Nanaimo poet Kamal Parmar will read some of her poems during a new virtual event, Rendezvous with a Poet, hosted by Char’s Landing in Port Alberni.
The event is scheduled for Sunday, April 25 at 2 p.m. via Zoom.
Parmar will read some of her poems in an informal atmosphere, and listeners will be invited to ask her questions about her poetry.
“The event is an attempt for the reader to get to know me and to develop a subtle connection between me, my poetry and the reader,” Parmar said.
“I am very excited about this event as this is my first reading in the lovely city of Port Alberni. I will have a wonderful opportunity to get to know the wonderful talented poets and writers that live there. Maybe when an opportunity comes in the near future, I will be able to develop stronger bonds with them.”
She will read from two of her books, Fleeting Shadows and In the Rising Mist, including poems reflecting on childhood memories about her native country, India, as well as poems that reflect on “an innate sense of being ‘in sync’ with Nature.”
“We need to see the immense beauty that is all around us…if only we had the time to stop and see,” Parmar said.
Doing an individual spoken word event represents an adaptation for Charlene Patterson of Char’s Landing in Port Alberni.
“Char’s Landing has hosted 100-plus artists per year since 2010 and we certainly miss our inhouse audiences,” Patterson said. “We are grateful to the spoken word community for embracing our interactive Zoom productions and we are especially looking forward to spotlighting Kamal.”
Virtual doors for the event open at 1:30 p.m.
Parmar has been passionately involved in writing since high school. Her genre is poetry and creative non-fiction and she dabbles frequently with Haiku poetry. She has books published in the UK, Canada and India and many poems published in U.S. and Canadian literary journals and anthologies.
She is an associate member of the League of Canadian Poets and a board member of the Federation of BC Writers. She is also a member of Haiku Canada, Canadian Authors Association and of The Writers Union of Canada, with whom she is a voluntary peer reviewer.
The event will be hosted by Derek Hanebury, a Port Alberni writer of poetry, fiction, and creative non-fiction who taught writing at North Island College for many years. His latest book, Both Sides Now, is a collaboration of short fiction with two of his past students. His upcoming solo collection, Something Else Altogether, will come out this fall.
Char’s Landing Public House is a Port Alberni venue, host to many spoken word events since 2010. Owner/operator Charlene Patterson has pivoted and now Zoom produces live interactive broadcasts. Attendees can pre-register to receive the interactive Zoom link at www.charslanding.com.
For more information, contact Charlene Patterson at charpca@yahoo.ca.
