Language, Landscape & Ancestry: Poetic Journeys of Belonging

Accès

À propos

In this intimate and thought-provoking panel, poets Melissa Powless Day and Sadiqa de Meijer come together to explore how language, land, and lineage shape their poetic voices and lived experiences.

Grounded in the themes of ancestral memory, migration, motherhood, and reclamation, this conversation invites audiences to reflect on the ways poetry can act as a vessel for personal and cultural belonging.

Melissa Powless Day’s forthcoming debut, A Bow Forged from Ash, is a powerful meditation on Indigenous identity and return. Her work traces connections to Anishinaabe and Kanien’kehá:ka territories in Southwestern Ontario—unfolding across landscapes of grief, resilience, and renewal.

Sadiqa de Meijer, known for her award-winning alfabet / alphabet and new essays in In the Field (2025), explores the emotional terrain of language—shifting from Dutch to English—and how this linguistic migration intersects with place, colonial histories, and the quiet layers of everyday life.

Together, these poets will delve into how their creative practices emerge from deeply rooted questions of home, heritage, and voice—and how writing becomes a way of mapping the complex terrain of belonging in both body and land.

Followed by an audience Q&A, the writers will be available for a book signing.

Liens

• Language, Landscape & Ancestry Poetic Journeys splibrary.ca

Organisateur

Stratford Public Library

Stratford Public Library is a welcoming community space where everyone can explore, learn, create, and connect. We inspire literacy and curiosity while sparking positive change in our community

Partenaires

Stratford Writers Festival stratfordwritersfestival.com