Last Wednesday, Authors at Harbourfront Centre in Toronto sponsored an open stage poetry smackdown at which 20 poets under the age of 35 were invited to read their poetry in front of an audience and a jury comprised of Authors at Harbourfront Centre director Geoffrey “Randy Jackson” Taylor and the National Post’s Mark “Simon Cowell” Medley.
This morning, Harbourfront issued a press release announcing that Nova Scotia-born poet Jacob McArthur Mooney, who now resides in Mississauga, has been named the winner of last week’s verse-off, and receives an invitation to read at the 30th anniversary of the Harbourfront International Festival of Authors, to be held this October. Mooney is the author of the collection The New Layman’s Almanac, published last year by McClelland & Stewart.
But Mooney was not the only poet to benefit from Harbourfront’s largesse: as a result of Wednesday’s reading, five of the other participating poets have been extended invitations to read at IFOA. The other five are: Kyle Buckley, Dani Couture, Jason Guriel, Jennica Harper, and Q&Q’s own Meaghan Strimas. Says Taylor: “Any one of these six authors could have been the winner on any given night.”
[...] Moon(ey) Over IFOA Posted on March 30, 2009 by danicouture The lovely Jacob McArthur Mooney wins Harbourfront’s Poetry Idol. Read his [...]
Congratulations all! It was a great night. So much talent, grace, humour, and balls of steel, I tell ya. Good times!
[...] March 31, 2009 I’d like to extend my congratulations to Jacob McArthur Mooney for his big win at the Harbourfront Centre this past Wednesday. A formidable line-up of 20 published poets under the age of 35 were randomly selected to read for 5 minutes each, and were judged by Harbourfront Centre director Geoffrey Taylor and the National Post’s Mark Medley. Along with Jake, 5 of the other participating poets were chosen to read at the 30th anniversary of the Harbourfront International Festival of Authors, including my personal betting-favorite, Dani Couture. Hats off to all! [...]