Why is poetry (and writing) so important – as seen through the words of writers

Here are three inspirational videos that I believe, if you ever doubted why should you write – will for ever clear up things for you. I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have 🙂

Scott Griffin is a Canadian businessman and philanthropist best known for founding the Griffin Poetry Prize, one of the world’s most generous poetry awards in 2000, and Poetry In Voice, a recitation competition for Canadian high schools. He is also the Chancellor of Bishop’s University. Chancellor Griffin sits on several NGO boards, as a director of Canadian Executive Services Overseas (CESO), a volunteer advisor to CESO, and a director of African Medical and Research Foundation (AMREF) Canada. In 2006, Chancellor Griffin published a memoir entitled My Heart is Africa that recounted his two-year aviation adventure starting in 1996, working for the Flying Doctors Service in Africa. He was appointed an officer of the Order of Canada in December, 2012. His talk explores the importance of poetry in society.

Daniel Tysdal has been a Senior Lecturer in the Department of English at UTSC since 2009. He is the author of three books of poetry and the poetry textbook, The Writing Moment: A Practical Guide to Creating Poems (Oxford University Press 2014). He is the recipient of multiple awards for his work and his research interests include creative writing and poetry. In his talk,  he is going to show you that you are the poet and will walk you through his writing process to showcase the Power of Poetry: to help us remember, grieve and celebrate.

Jarred McGinnis will share his passion for stories and demonstrate the power of words from Speech Act Theory to the genius that is the children’s book ‘That’s Not My Pirate’. Jarred is an American living in London, and the co-founder of the literary variety night, The Special Relationship. His fiction has been commissioned for BBC Radio 4, and appeared in journals in the UK, USA and Ireland. He is wickedtomocktheafflicted.com. In addition to writing fiction, he holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence.

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