TROIS-RIVIÈRES, 4 October, 2011 – Following its successful launch in Ontario by The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry, high school poetry recitation contest Poetry In Voice/Les voix de la poésie is now opening its doors in Quebec before reaching across Canada in 2013.
The initiative, founded by Scott Griffin — philanthropist and Chairman of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry — aims to introduce students to the most beautiful poems ever written in English and in French.
The contest is open to secondary school and CEGEP students and requires that they memorize poems and recite them on stage. Student participation in Poetry In Voice is designed to develop a life-long love of poetry while it promotes excellence, helps build self-confidence, and improves public-speaking skills.
According to Pierre Nepveu, “Poetry In Voice is an educational program of the highest order and a marvellous introduction to poetry. Reading and reciting poems allows young people to discover another way to approach language, to develop a sense of its expressiveness, its rhythm, its music and the power of its images at a time when most of the language around them is purely utilitarian and focused on communication. All poetry, however literary, is written to be read aloud. And Poetry In Voice wants to teach a new generation how to speak verse and make it sing.”
The anthology currently has hundreds of poems and will continue to grow over the years. The poems in French were chosen by Pierre Nepveu and include classic, modern, and contemporary works by poets such as Émile Nelligan, Victor Hugo, Paul Verlaine, and Hélène Dorion.
The poems in English were reviewed by members of The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry, among them writers and poets Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje. The English-language poets include Poe, Whitman, Brontë, Keats, and many others. Margaret Atwood notes, “Poetry In Voice takes poetry back to its oral roots — its connection with the voice, with heard rhythm — while connecting with an ancient tradition that has recently been revived in several forms: Poetry as performance. Memorizing a poem is a way of knowing it inside out — in all five of its dimensions.”
The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry
The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry was founded in April 2000 by Chairman Scott Griffin, along with Trustees Margaret Atwood, Carolyn Forché, Robert Hass, Michael Ondaatje, Robin Robertson, and David Young. By funding the Griffin Poetry Prize — the world’s largest prize for a first edition single collection of poetry written in, or translated into, English — The Griffin Trust For Excellence In Poetry aims to spark the public’s imagination and raise awareness of the crucial role poetry plays in our cultural life.
Pierre Nepveu taught literature at Université de Montréal for thirty years. Poet, novelist, and essay writer, Professor Nepveu has published well over a dozen books including several collections of poetry, two of which earned Governor General’s Literary Awards. He is also the co-author of La poésie québécoise, des origines à nos jours, a much-loved Quebec poetry anthology; reprinted in 2007. His biography of Gaston Miron, Gaston Miron, La vie d’un homme, has just been published by les Éditions du Boréal.
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For further information, please refer to:
Sepideh Anvar
Tel: (514) 677 0927
Email: sepideh@lesvoixdelapoesie.ca
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