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November 6, 2009
A spoken word night
Whip Up the Words is part of the book festival.
DAVID J. LITVAK
David Silverberg, spoken word artist, author and slam poet from Toronto, will be the featured performer at Whip Up the Words, a unique evening of spoken word and poetry which will help kick off the upcoming Cherie Smith JCCGV Jewish Book Festival.
Whip Up is being presented in collaboration with the Isaac Waldman Jewish Public Library, Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery and Vancouver's Pandora's Collective. It will feature a half-hour set of slam poetry and haiku by Silverberg and the rhythms and words of poets from Pandora's Collective. All this will be performed under the backdrop of Lorne Greenberg's stunning photographs displayed in Visions of Israel, his photographic exhibit currently showing at the Zack Gallery. As part of the event, audience members will be encouraged to write poetry inspired by Greenberg's images.
This year's Whip Up is made possible by the library's honorary chair, Dr. Yosef Wosk, who "provided a grant to promote and support poetry in all its forms through the library at the JCC," shared Karen Corrin, senior librarian at the Waldman Library, in an interview with the Independent. Corrin saw Whip Up as "a chance to have an exciting pre-festival event that would be part of the buzz of the JCC Cherie Smith book festival, with three JCC departments collaborating with Pandora's Collective." She hopes it will lead to future ongoing live poetry and spoken word events at the JCC.
Reisa Smiley Schneider, cultural arts director of the Zack Gallery, who conceived the idea for a multi-disciplinary event at the gallery last year (along with Sarah Martin from the Vancouver Artists Collective), hopes that this year's event will duplicate the success of last year's cross-cultural collaborative effort Echoing Voices, which featured poetry and art. "These collaborative events offer a unique and creative experience combining visual arts and poetry, as well as an opportunity for social networking," said Schneider. "I also love how poetry and art work together," she added.
Silverberg, who is the founder and artistic director of the Toronto Poetry Project which hosts one of the largest poetry slams in Canada, is known as the father of the slam poetry scene in Toronto. "I started the monthly poetry slam in Toronto to provide a venue for slam poets because, prior to that, there was no regular venue for them to share their work." Silverberg feels that the term "slam poetry" can be misleading. "I prefer to define slam poetry as spoken word that is insightful and entertaining, which stresses the performance of the piece."
Silverberg, who was the editor of Mic Chek, Canada's first spoken word anthology, will pepper his set with a variety of styles including haiku, spoken word, written poetry, slam and "cover" poems. Although he has performed in Vancouver in the past, he has never performed specifically for the Jewish community and he is excited about the prospect of sharing his poems with a new audience.
Nicole Nozick, director of this year's book festival, is delighted to be collaborating for the second straight year with Pandora's Collective and the Zack Gallery and welcomes the involvement of the library as "another important community collaboration.... It's wonderful to partner up with other local cultural and literary arts organizations. Collaboration amongst the arts is a great way to share resources and showcase poets, writers and artists.... Word Whips is a true collaboration, bringing together literary arts, poetry, spoken word and visual arts in a unique and eclectic event."
Whip Up the Words will be held at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery on Thursday, Nov. 12, at 8:30 p.m. For information, visit jewishbookfestival.ca or call the Vancouver JCC, at 604-257-5111. For more information on Pandora's Collective, visit pandorascollective.com.
David J. Litvak is a freelance writer and publicist living in Vancouver.
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