Under the Rooftops of Vancouver is an erotic poetry show that is focused on the varied voices and experiences of those within the greater Vancouver community. Our host for the evening is the wonderfully talented Cass King and our first four featured readers for this series will be Catherine Lewis, Ellie Sawatzky, Erin Kirsh and RC Weslowski. Should time allow, we may have a short open mic to follow.

Cass King (She, They) is a singer, writer, and Maker of Strange Things. As one half of musical comedy duo The Wet Spots, she traveled the world, performing twice at the Sydney Opera House, and opening for Margaret Cho at Vancouver’s Center for the Performing Arts. More recently, she co-wrote and starred in ‘SHINE: A Burlesque Musical’, which Time Out New York called ‘Rent for our generation”. She is proud to have been a member of the original Van Slam Poetry team in 1996, and she was a member of every Vancouver team from 1996-2001. She took 5th place at the US Nationals in 1998, but she is most proud to have acted as Slam Master from 1998 to 2000, because that took way more work. Her current band Cass King and the Cassettes are preparing for the 8th annual Bowie Ball at the Rickshaw Theatre, a fundraiser that has raised over $200K for the Canadian Cancer Foundation. Their album is called Naked on the Dance Floor. Check out cassking.com for more.

Catherine Lewis (she/her) is a Chinese Canadian writer and poet who lives in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. Her debut poetry chapbook Zipless is a finalist for two Bisexual Book Awards, including Bi Writer of the Year. Her poetry and prose have been featured in PRISM international, The Humber Literary Review, Pulp Literature, and Plenitude Magazine. First runner-up for Pulp Literature’s 2023 Magpie Award for Poetry, Catherine has been a finalist in creative nonfiction contests hosted by The Fiddlehead, Room Magazine, and The Humber Literary Review. She has performed at the Poets Corner Reading Series, Word Vancouver, and the Verses Festival of Words. A graduate of the Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University and of the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive, she is a Banff Centre Literary Arts alumna. Catch her on Twitter or Instagram at @cat_writes_604 or at www.catherinewriter.com.

Ellie Sawatzky (@elliesawatzky) is a Vancouver-based poet, writer, editor, teacher, cat mom, renegade Mennonite, and euphonium hobbyist. Her début poetry collection, None of This Belongs to Me, was published by Nightwood Editions in 2021. A past winner of CV2’s Foster Poetry Prize, runner up for the Thomas Morton Memorial Prize, and finalist for the 2019 Bronwen Wallace Award, her poetry and prose have been published in The Fiddlehead, Room, Grain, The Maynard,PRISM international, and elsewhere. Ellie holds an MFA from UBC’s Creative Writing program and is currently an editor for FriesenPress, founder and facilitator of the Strathcona Poetry Studio, and a member of the Growing Room Collective. Find her at a costume party, in a cold body of water, or at www.elliesawatzky.com.

Erin Kirsh is an award-winning writer, performer, and funnyman from Toronto. Her writing has appeared in publications such as The Malahat Review, Cosmonauts Avenue, bBarren Magazine, Short Edition, CV2, ARC Poetry Magazine, QWERTY, Poetry is Dead, EVENT, PULP Literature, Geist and more.

RC Weslowski is an award-winning spoken word poet and radio broadcaster. He has featured at such distinguished events as the Nuyorican Café Poetry Slam, The Bowery Poetry Club, The Toronto Poetry Slam, The Art Bar Reading Series, Planet Poetry, The Poets Corner, The Otoba Poetry Slam, Song and Bird Reading Series, the Verses Festival of Words and now the Edmonton Poetry Festival. RC has led poetry “wordshops” with Word Travels Australia, The Banff Centre for the Arts, The Tuscon Poetry Festival, The Victoria Spoken Word Festival and many more. RC’s first book of poetry, “My Soft Response to the Wars” is out on Write Bloody North Publishing. www.writebloodynorth.ca
This show is the combined efforts of a Dorothy, a deviant, an effete, an exhibitionist, a sensitive man, a southpaw and all the filthy freaks that call this fairy tale home. Tickets are limited so feel free to grab one for friend if you think they’d enjoy the show.

https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/under-the-rooftops-of-vancouver-tickets-743225927757?aff=oddtdtcreator&fbclid=IwAR1uP3TipWrnegfKHfFM0Ki7W-LrIt86sbdZXdFTCyusBrvJ7PlG8K4FaOs