“Poetry In Voice has become a cultural force in Canada.”
— Margaret Atwood
Purpose
Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie is a registered charity that is ensuring all Canadians speak the language of poetry. We want to be the essential resource for teaching and learning poetry in Canada — and beyond.
Mission
We provide secondary school educators with engaging content and experiences, in English and French, to inspire their students to read, recite, and write poetry.
Why poetry?
Read
Recite
Write
Linguistic curiosity & creativity
Confidence in public speaking
Empathy & cultural understanding
Lifelong relationship with poetry
We are growing
In 2010, we ran a poetry recitation contest with students from 12 Ontario schools.
In 2011, students in Quebec joined.
And in 2012, the contest was opened to students from across Canada.
In 2013, we started to expand our resources to include lesson plans, Poem Roulette, Poet In Class/Poètes à l’école, VOICES/VOIX poetry journal...
As of fall 2019, 3037 schools have joined us. That’s almost ⅕ of all schools in Canada!
- 2011
- 2013
- 2015
- 2017
- 2019
We are shaping how poetry is taught...
teachers have created an account on our website
Teachers have read our lesson plans
times
...and learned in Canadian schools.
Our poems have been read over
times
students have recited a poem
students submitted their poetry to the inaugural issue of our journal
students have met a poet since 2017 through our Poet In Class/Poètes à l’école program
“Poetry In Voice is an astonishing tribute to poetry — one of the greatest ideas to emerge in the world of literature in Canada in recent years!”
— The Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson
“Reciting poetry in high school gave me the confidence to speak up — and that confidence is still with me.”
— Khalil Mair, graduate of the University of Oxford and 2013 English Stream Champion
“I discovered poetry [with Poetry In Voice]. Reading poems used to be boring.”
— Marianne Verville, student
“Poetry is hardly taught in high school. But Poetry In Voice makes it so easy to bring it into the classroom.”
— Marie-Andrée Arsenault, teacher
“Using such little words, just a page, you can describe issues that have been around for so long, very broad issues [...] I didn’t know poetry could be so educational to others on issues going around in this world.”
— Tsion Berie, Student
“With Poetry In Voice, we are able to plant seeds and harvest results right away. From the moment the students get a taste of poetry, they don’t want to stop. It is a wonderful experience!”
— Sophie Gamache, teacher
“The National Finals is a great show. These students dig really deep and add a unique texture and weight to each poem they recite. Their performances blew me away.”
— David Usher, musician and author
“Many students told me they didn't know they could have a future in poetry but are [now] confident they can if they want to.”
— Kayla Geitzler, poet