About the Roar

A brief outline.

"The Roar" is a celebration of the spoken word presented as a part of The Edmonton Poetry Festival. The Roar is a multi-day day festival of poetry and spoken word performance that takes place annually in Edmonton, Canada. (Note: in 2007, the Roar is a one-evening affair.) 2007 is the third year for the festival, which is produced by Edmonton's own Raving Poets. In 2007 the festival is happening on September 21 across many venues in the bustling downtown area of Edmonton. We have many events lined up. Some events will feature established writers and performers in command performances, and some events will be open to those with a solid idea for a gig. Contact us for more details. YOU are invited to join the party, either as a performer or a spectator. You don't have to be a writer or a poet to dig this stuff! Read on to find out more...

Where can I find info on specific events?

We've got some featured performers lined up. We've also got some open opportunities. You can find a complete schedule including a list of performers, venue addresses, information, and reading times on the schedule page. Check it out!

Who can participate?

Anyone can participate in The Roar, but this year, 2007, we're limited in time and space. We have about a dozen open spots on our schedule. If you've got a solid idea for a gig, drop us a line. If we like your idea, it'll be considered. We'd like to extend a very special invitation to poetry clans from around our city, province, country and planet. We want to be world wide, baby! Please join us! We'd love to see you all down there! The Roar isn't just a celebration of the spoken word, it's a swingin' party, and everyone's invited!

Who are the people behind The Roar?

The festival is produced by The Raving Poets (www.ravingpoets.com), a literary organization based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Check out the staff page to find out which individuals are behind this caper. The Raving Poets have been active since 2000. Since then, we've given a stage to hundreds of poets from Edmonton, around Alberta, and from across Canada. Our poetry readings have always been a little different. We blend the spoken word with a bit of beer and a large helping of live improvisational music courtesy of The Raving Poets Band. The result is some amazing verse that lives somewhere between Neruda's wineglass and The Duke's drumkit. We're populists. We have no official membership. We do our thing and the poets make it all happen. We live for the word. The Roar Festival is our way of saying, "come, let's do what we do and kick up our heels. Let's celebrate the word and the voice!"

About The Roar Website and Visual Identity

The visual identity of The Roar 2007 was designed by Michael Gravel. This website was built by him using Textpattern, some hyper-valid CSS, and some downright amazing XHTML. We believe that this site also kicks loads of ass.