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RECOGNITION OF UNESCO'S WORLD POETRY DAY, NATIONAL POETRY MONTH AND READ MARGARET ATWOOD MONTH.
Mayor Lehman read the Read Margaret Atwood Month proclamation. Mayor Lehman announced that the 8th Annual L3 Writer's Conference is taking place on April 23, 2015 at Barrie North Collegiate and will feature Canadian author Margaret Atwood as the key note speaker and provided details of the event.
Rudi Quammie Williams, Director of Culture noted that National Poetry Month has been celebrated since 1998 and that World Poetry Day was celebrated on March 21, 2015. He acknowledged and thanked Mr. Brian Adduono from Barrie North Collegiate for organizing the L3 Writer's Conference. Mr. Williams provided details on the poetry reading events to be held at the Downtown and Painswick Library locations on April 9 and April 16, 2015 at 7:00 p.m. and noted that Mayor Lehman and other special guests would be participating in these events.
Mr. Williams introduced the City of Barrie's Poet Laureate Mr. Damian Lopes and provided details on his background and credentials as a poet. Mr. Lopes thanked Council for the honour to be in attendance. He commented on why he feels poetry is important and highlighted his recent works in "Yasser Arafat is Dead".
As part of the Mayor's Poetry Challenge issued by Mayor Nenshi of Calgary, Mr. Lopes, read a poem entitled "Kandahar Time (for JJ and the BBs) from his collection "Away From Home" (Attached as Appendix "A" to the minutes).