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$25 In advance / $35 at the door
While we may have limited tickets available at the door, these would be limited and offered on a first come, first served basis.
DETAILS
Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
Doors open at 6:30pm; Performance begins at 7 - 8:30pm; Doors close at 9pm
Venue: Gallery 881, 881 East Hastings Street, Vancouver
Parking: Plenty of free street parking in front and across from the gallery
Drinks are available for purchase.
Words to the Wise
Poetry at Gallery 881
Poetry coming out of the frenzy of geopolitical mayhem, four poets with some wacky words of way-out wisdom, featuring Clifton Joseph, dubzz poet at large, hailing from Toronto, Kedrick James, performance poet and musician, currently abides in Kelowna, Bonnie Nish, poet and Vancouver-based literary raconteur extraordinaire in collaboration with Lorraine White-Wilkinson, dancer and teacher living in Vancouver, and Nikita Carter, writer, improvisor, jazz magus, recently returning from Mexico, these four are determined to change the world one word at a time. With centuries of combined experience behind them, this is a one-of-a-kind night where fresh perspectives renew planetary prognostication with some hope and cope in uncertain times. These will be will be wild times when wild words are called upon and cunningly crafted to forge the complex path forward. Situated at the great Gallery 881, one of the newest homes for literary hospitality where photography as the language of light meets poetry as the light of language.
Performer Bios:
Clifton Joseph: A prolific and original writer, performer and personality, Clifton Joseph, has been instrumental in shaping and developing the dub poetry movement in Canada. For decades, he’s performed across Canada, the United States, the UK, the Caribbean and Africa. His first volume of poetry, Metropolitan Blues, launched his career as one of the originators of the dub poetry art form in Canada. His poems have been anthologized in numerous written and audio compilations, including De Dub Poets with poets Lilian Allen and Devon Haughton with the Truths & Rights Reggae Band, Poetry Nation, Vehicule Press's Paen to the spoken/word-performance poetry movement, and Word Up, Virgin Records' CD of North American spoken word poets as well as the accompanying Word Up poem-video series commissioned by and aired on Much Music.
Kedrick James: Poet, performer and musician, is the Director of the UBC Okanagan School of Education. As a professor he combines research and artistic creation to understand cultural transitions between analogue and digital media. He often performs with his band Seethruzoo who have a new vinyl album Interleaf being released mid April. His recent book, Becoming Ecological: Navigating Language and Meaning for Our Planet’s Future , was co-authored with Derek Gladwin and published by University of Toronto Press (2026). He and the band will be touring Mexico later this month and May.
Nikita Carter has a new book, Both Sides of the Great Divide (https://transgenderpublishing.ca/both-sides-of-the-great-divide/ ). The audio book will be released in the summer of 2026. She’s also a vocalist/multi-instrumentalist, composer and band leader. Ms. Carter is a trans woman who has made that transition later in her life and has a unique perspective on gender, music and story-telling.
Bonnie Nish is Executive Director of Word Vancouver and Pandora’s Collective Outreach Society. Bonnie has a Masters in Arts Education from Simon Fraser University and a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from UBC. Bonnie is an Expressive Arts Therapist with a Certificate from the Vancouver Expressive Arts Therapy School where she is also a faculty member. Bonnie’s first book of poetry ‘Love and Bones’ was released by Karma Press Her next book “Concussion and Mild TBI: Not Just Another Headline” an anthology of concussion related stories, was published by Lash and Associates in 2016. Bonnie is an Expressive Arts Therapist and is on the faculty of the Vancouver Expressive Arts Therapy School. Her latest book, Cantata in Two Voices, co-written with Jude Neal was released by Ekstasis Editions.
Lorraine White-Wilkinson: Holding an MA in Arts Education and a BA Honours degree in Dance, Lorraine is a passionate teacher of both Early Learners and Senior Citizens. Her most recent research is around the community building power of the Arts. Having worked as a Collaborative Dance Artist, she currently has stepped into the world of Performance Art and Aesthetic Facilitation.
Gallery 881 is proudly sponsored by PrintMaker Studio, fine art printing and custom picture framing studio located in Vancouver.