For the past couple of years VIA Rail Canada has been transporting troubadours across the country with its popular On-Board Musician program. Now, a group of poets are travelling and performing on Ontario’s Grand River by canoe.

Starting Aug. 5, Linda Besner (The Id Kid, Véhicule Press), Asa Boxer (Skullduggery, Signal Editions), Jeramy Dodds (Crabwise to the Hounds, Coach House Books), Gabe Foreman (A Complete Encyclopedia of Different Types of People, Coach House), Helen Guri (Match, Coach House), Leigh Kotsilidis (Hypotheticals, Coach House), and Daniel Kincade Renton (Qwerty poetry editor), along with Toronto singer Abigail Lapell will participate in the Fish Quill Poetry Boat reading tour, paddling from Elora to Six Nations Grand River Territory.

Daily stops include Bissell Park Pavilion, Elora (Aug. 5), West Montrose Kissing Bridge, Woolwich (Aug. 6), Waterloo Region Museum (Aug. 7), O’Keefe Cottage Cafe & Ice Cream Parlour, Cambridge (Aug. 9), Brown Dog Coffee Roastery, Paris (Aug. 10), Brantford Arts Block (Aug. 11), and the Six Nations Chiefswood National Historic Site (Aug. 13). On Aug. 8, there’s a Paddle with the Poets Day, where the public is invited to join the paddlers, starting at 10 a.m. at Bingemans Camping Resort in Kitchener. Rental canoes are available.

Appropriately, the tour kicks off Aug. 4 at The Boat in Toronto. All performances start at 7 p.m. and are free.