As part of Say Anything/Something, a community-based performance and workshop series, Inspired Word Café is thrilled to present a poetry workshop lead by local author and professor Jake Kennedy!

This workshop invites writers at all stages and experience levels to engage in a learning and sharing environment.

No registration necessary—spots are first come, first served. This event is free to attend.

About the workshop: Would you like to make two—maybe three!—magical, brilliant, win-new-friends-quality, charming poems using a technique totally and shamelessly pirated from kids? If so, this is your dang workshop! All you need to bring is your chickenbrain... Jake will provide pencils and paper—said materials also "borrowed" from kids! Thanks, you rascals!

About Jake Kennedy: “I like birds” and “I like bikes” were the opening lines of Jake Kennedy’s circa-1979 first-poem-ever… Now, sadly, Jake is 52 and uses words like “assiduous” and “existential” so, like, what a falling off there was, eh? The point is, though, Jake still likes birds and Jake still likes bikes and he keeps trying to find the courage to say it over and over. Finally, other than bikes and birds Jake likes writer John Lent and he (Jake) was lucky enough to edit and introduce his (John’s) recent (2024!) selected poems entitled Molecular Cathedral. Jake will sell you a copy for free if, like, you totally like birds and bikes, too.

Jake is the author of three collections of poetry: The Lateral (Snare Books), Apollinaire’s Speech to the War Medic (Book*hug), and Merz Structure No. 2 Burnt by Children at Play (Book*hug). His most recent chapbook—published by Gaspereau Press—is The Rublev Horse.

The Alternator Centre is located in the Rotary Centre for the Arts and is wheelchair accessible. Bathrooms are gendered stalled washrooms, with a single, gender neutral and wheelchair accessible washroom available.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Join us for an evening of poetry, prose, and music at BNA Burger (in the BNA tasting room)! As part of Say Anything/Something, a community-based performance and workshop series, Inspired Word Café is thrilled to present our Open Mic featuring local author and professor Jake Kennedy and Valeria Rojas Flores! Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale, and $5 for members.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 8 open mic spots, so bring your stories, poems, and music! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

About Jake Kennedy: “I like birds” and “I like bikes” were the opening lines of Jake Kennedy’s circa-1979 first-poem-ever… Now, sadly, Jake is 52 and uses words like “assiduous” and “existential” so, like, what a falling off there was, eh? The point is, though, Jake still likes birds and Jake still likes bikes and he keeps trying to find the courage to say it over and over. Finally, other than bikes and birds Jake likes writer John Lent and he (Jake) was lucky enough to edit and introduce his (John’s) recent (2024!) selected poems entitled Molecular Cathedral. Jake will sell you a copy for free if, like, you totally like birds and bikes, too.

Jake is the author of three collections of poetry: The Lateral (Snare Books), Apollinaire’s Speech to the War Medic (Book*hug), and Merz Structure No. 2 Burnt by Children at Play (Book*hug). His most recent chapbook—published by Gaspereau Press—is The Rublev Horse.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Join us for an evening of poetry, prose, and music at BNA Burger (in the BNA tasting room)! IWC presents our Open Mic! IWC is delighted to feature Levi Bent and Ella Schmor as our headliners for this event! Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale, and $5 for members.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 10 open mic spots, so bring your stories, poems, and music! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Closing out the festival is a New Leaves Fest favourite: the 9th annual PONY! Cabaret. PONY! is Kelowna’s premier queer cabaret and it only comes once a year. Featuring the sexy and hysterical hosting of Mister Sister, aka Ms. Cookie LaWhore and Erin Scott, and a rogues’ gallery of queer and allied performers including beatboxer Poppa Nuge, storyteller Ed Wolf, drag performer Guido La Bido, writer Joshua Whitehead, and burlesque dancer Miss Ocean Squeeze.

This event is a fundraiser for IWC, and helps make possible the amazing low-barrier programming we offer throughout the year.

Click here to get your tickets NOW! Tickets sold out quickly for PONY! last year at the Mary Irwin and this year there are fewer available due to the intimate nature of the Black Box Theatre. 

Doors are at 7:00 pm. Entry is $15 - $45 (sliding scale). Event is 19+. 

Join Inspired Word Café in collaboration with the Centre culturel francophone de l'Okanagan and Espaces francophones UBCO for a plurilingual night of music, storytelling, and poetry. The event will open with a short storytelling open mic. At this open mic, you can either read written stories (fictional or nonfictional) or you can come and tell a story off the top of your head.

Here is the kicker: all languages are welcome! 

The Open Mic will be hosted in French and English and followed by headlining performances from Rina Garcia Chua, Élodie Orsei, and Caroline A. Pinheiro da Costa, who will read and perform in a number of languages, including French, English, Tagalog, Portuguese, and more! Priority for the Open Mic will be given to French and other bilingual speakers.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts.

Tickets are $5 - $10 (sliding scale) and can be purchased online (click here) or at the door. Event is all ages.

Inspired Word Café, en collaboration avec le Centre culturel francophone de l’Okanagan et Espaces francophones UBCO vous invitent à un soirée bilingue pour se raconter des histoires, lire de la poésie et entendre la musique de nos langues. L’événement s’ouvrira sur une brève scène ouverte (open mic). Vous pourrez raconter à voix haute des histoires vécues ou fictives pour mettre en valeur l’écriture et les traditions orales.

Ingrédient secret: toutes les langues sont les bienvenues! 

La scène ouverte (open mic) sera animé en français et en anglais et sera suivi par les performances des autrices Rina Garcia Chua,Élodie Orsei et Caroline A. Pinheiro da Costa, qui parlent - entre autres! - le français, l’anglais, le tagalog et le portugais! À noter: le micro ouvert accordera la priorité aux personnes souhaitant s’exprimer dans d’autres langues que l’anglais.

Les inscriptions pour la scène ouverte se feront à l’ouverture des portes dès 18h. Les billets seront en vente à la porte au coût de 5$ à 10$ (vous choisissez! Comptant ou cartes). Une activité tout public.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna and the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

CANCELLED - RESCHEDULED TO FALL 2025

Please join Inspired Word Café and Dr. Astrida Neimanis and Michael V. Smith (Co-Directors of the Biodiversities of Gender project) for a writing workshop facilitated by visiting author Joshua Whitehead. 

Biodiversities of Gender investigates the intersections of gender, climate crisis, and place, with a particular grounding here on Syilx lands, in Kelowna, BC. Fostering a sense of abundance, BOG encourages creative process as an opening to more dynamic considerations around gender and climate equity. Overall, BOG will meaningfully contribute to a safer local community where new gender, climate and anticolonial cultural abundance can flourish through research-creation.

Register here! Please come with a pen/pencil and paper. This event is free to attend.

Stones and Slipstreams: in this workshop, Whitehead is interested in exploring the epistemologies of stones. Within Anishinaabeg and nêhiyawak worldviews, stones are animate beings: from the miniscule pebble to grandfather rocks in our ceremonies to the mountains that sleep beside us through to the titans we call planets. Take, for example, manitou asinîy, or Creator's Stone, a 145kg iron meteorite that fell in the Iron Creek area bordering what is now known as Alberta and Saskatchewan. A meteorite used for ceremonial purposes, which also goes by the name awâsis kôhtakocihk kîsikohk (the child who fell from the sky) and was stolen from the land in 1866 and is, for now, housed in the Royal Alberta Museum in Edmonton. Here, Whitehead will ask: how does the stone act as a slipstream? What do stones tell us of Indigenous and/or queer futurities through their histories? And how might stones function as creative sites rich for writing and storytelling?

Joshua Whitehead is an Oji-Cree, Two-Spirit storyteller and academic from Peguis First Nation on Treaty 1 territory in Manitoba. He is an Associate Professor of Indigenous Studies and English at the University of Calgary on Treaty 7 territory. He is the author of full-metal indigiqueer, Jonny Appleseed, and the editor of Love after the End: an Anthology of Two-Spirit and Indigiqueer Speculative Fiction. His book of non-fiction, Making Love with the Land released in Spring 2022. Follow him on Twitter or Instagram at: @JWhitehead204.

Joshua prefers to write about Indigeneity, and more specifically, 2SQ (Two-Spirit, queer Indigeneity). His poetic style is usually lyrical, experimental, and intertextual, he likes to use repetition and anaphora to help structure his poems, along with a multitude of voices to help his speakers sing. 

Location: ORL Downtown Library (Classroom 1 Upstairs)

Date: March 7th, 2025

Time: 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Cost: FREE

To kick off the 2025 New Leaves Festival, IWC is going to do what we do best: a run-of-the-mill, ordinary Open Mic. But this is no ordinary Open Mic! We will also feature IWC Collective members past and present, with a headlining performance from IWC co-founder Rawle James in his triumphant return to the Okanagan. Get there early as this event will no doubt fill up fast with the love that this community has for Rawle and the popularity of IWC’s Open Mics!

Tickets are $10 - $20 (sliding scale) and can only be purchased at the door. Event is all ages.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 10 open mic spots, so bring your stories, poems, and music! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

Rawle James: Rawle has appeared as a featured artist at Colbalt Poets, oooh Beehive, Spoken World Online, Gestalt Open Mic, and POP Chat. He has several poems selected for various anthologies and has authored two poetry books, Truth Experienced and In Flow with Grace. He is the founder and producer of the Inspired Poetry Corner, which hosts Sunday at the Corner, Gestalt Open Mic, Home is the Heart Open Mic, In Celebration and Above the Noise. He is also a fellow of the International Academy of Ethics. Rawle continues to embody the spirit of Ubuntu, I am because you are.

IWC Collective: Kelowna-based literary and performance non-profit Inspired Word Café (IWC) has been instrumental in creating a robust poetry and Spoken Word scene in the Okanagan. Run by the IWC collective, and known for their flagship open mic that happens from September to April at BNA Burger, IWC has long created a space for emerging and tenured writers and performers from all walks of life to be welcomed and upheld as they share their work, learn new skills, and connect local and national literary scenes. IWC is also the creator of New Leaves Festival of Arts and Culture.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Join us for an evening of poetry, prose, and music at BNA Burger (in the BNA tasting room)! IWC presents our Open Mic! Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale, and $5 for members.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 10 open mic spots, so bring your stories, poems, and music! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Join us for an evening of poetry, prose, and music at BNA Burger (in the BNA tasting room)! IWC presents our Open Mic and Reading Series! IWC is thrilled to feature writer and comedian Jo Güstin. Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale, and $5 for members.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 10 open mic spots, so bring your stories, poems, and music! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

Reader bio: Jo Güstin is a published writer, comedian, creative producer, and public speaker who tells the dopest queer African jokes and stories in French and English. Intersectionality Black feminist, she uses fiction and her dry wit to celebrate Black and queer joy. Born and raised in Cameroon, she studied at prestigious institutions in France, Germany, and Japan. She is now a Canadian permanent resident based in Toronto, ON. After a two-minute marketing career (L’Oréal, Orange, Gleeden, Citroën), she said, “fuck this, I’m an artist,” and started freelancing as a French language specialist as PROFESSION:SCRIBE in 2015, as she layed the foundations of her artistic career. She accidentally started stand-up comedy in 2016, her first book (“9 Histoires lumineuses où le bien est le mal”) came out in 2017, a one-woman-show (“Je n’suis pas venue ici pour souffrir, OK ?”) in 2018, a second book (“Ah Sissi, il faut souffrir pour être française !”) in 2019. In 2020, she founded the creative production company DEARNGE SOCIETY in Canada. Her award-winning short film Don’t Text Your Ex (Best LGBT short, Cannes Short Film Festival 2022) and audio drama series Contes et légendes du Queeriqoo (Out d’Or 2021) are the first productions under the label.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Join us for an evening of poetry, fun, and friendly competition at BNA Burger (in the BNA tasting room)! IWC presents our Open Mic and Open Slam! Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale, and $5 for members.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 5 open mic spots and 5 open slam spots—with cash prizes for the open slam! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Join us for an evening of poetry, prose, and music at BNA Burger! IWC is delighted to be hosting the launch of Norah Bowman’s newest book, My Eyes Are Fuses (Caitlin Press, 2024), featuring a Holiday Special Open Mic.

First, we will open with a holiday-themed open mic. Will IWC learn the true meaning of the holidays? Bring your festive writing and holiday outfits to find out! Next, Two Spirit Cree and Métis artist, de-colonial activist, graduate student, and poet Alana Firedancer will offer a poetry performance. The evening will culminate with a reading and interview with author and artist Norah Bowman!

Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale.

Copies of My Eyes Are Fuses will be available to purchase at the event.

About the book: Weaving together a modern retelling of Roman Empress Agrippina the Elder, a künstlerroman-inspired exploration of French sculptor Niki de Saint Phalle, and the contemporary portrait of an unhappily married mother, Bowman’s My Eyes Are Fuses is a bold exploration of tensions between freedom of art and the constraints of gender. Spanning centuries, these poems offer enchantments and antidotes, extract the poison from moments of pain, distil it down to a sweet elixir. Here, women are animals, witches, artists, rebels, imagined beyond their accomplishments, drawn together through time. With careful form, Bowman conjures a new chronicle for these women as time travellers, shapeshifters, goddesses akin to the three Fates, powerful beyond what their moments in time allowed of them.

About the author: Norah Bowman lives on Unceded Syilx Okanagan territory, home to ponderosa pines and bunchgrass. Norah is a poet, artist, and feminist writer whose interests include art, feminist movements around the world, equity for all, and protection of the earth. She is the author of Amplify! A Graphic Novel of Feminist Resistance (University of Toronto Press, 2019) and Breath, Like Water: An Anticolonial Romance (Caitlin Press, 2021).

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up for the open mic begins promptly at 6:30p m with our hosts. We have 5 open mic spots available and are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Book description courtesy of Caitlin Press.

Join us for an evening of poetry, prose, and music at BNA Burger (in the BNA tasting room)! IWC presents our Open Mic! Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale, and $5 for members.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 10 open mic spots, so bring your stories, poems, and music! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

Join us for an evening of poetry, fun, and friendly competition at BNA Burger (in the BNA tasting room)! IWC presents our Open Mic and Open Slam! Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale, and $5 for members.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 5 open mic spots and 5 open slam spots—with cash prizes for the open slam! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

IWC is pleased to partner with Nuit Blanche to bring you an evening of captivating art and performance—featuring Travis Andrews, Lexi Tarasoff, Ella Schmor, and Finch James! The event starts at 6:00 pm and IWC poets will be performing with Nuit Blanche between 8:30 pm and 10:30 pm. Festival goers are invited to explore and observe interactive workshops and creative performance. This portion of the event will be taking place in the Interior Savings parking lot across from the French Cultural Centre on the corner of Bernard and Richter.

Nuit Blanche Kelowna, a celebration of creativity organized by the Centre Culturel Francophone de l’Okanagan since 2013, invites the community to explore a world where art lights up the night. This year’s theme, “Through the Stitches,” threads together an array of artistic styles, mediums, and performances, each connected by the intricate fabric of human expression.

From illuminated visual arts that glow against the night sky to interactive workshops that invite you to weave your own creativity, this year’s Nuit Blanche features both local and traveling talent and most events are family friendly and free to the public. Theatrical performances will blur the lines between reality and imagination, and the evening will conclude with a “silent disco” where audiences can don a headset and choose between three styles of local DJs to dance to.

Most events are free and all ages. Some events are 19+ (bar on site). Please visit Nuit Blanche for additional information.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.

We’re back! Join IWC as we kickoff season 15! Come down for an evening of poetry, prose, and music at BNA Burger (in the BNA tasting room)! IWC presents our Open Mic! Entry is a $6-$10 sliding scale, and $5 for members.

Curious what type of material you can share? Music, poetry, dance, comedy—you name it, we welcome it! IWC offers an inclusive and encouraging environment for all skill levels.

Doors are at 6:30 pm, and sign up begins promptly at 6:30 pm with our hosts. We have 10 open mic spots, so bring your stories, poems, and music! Spots are first come, first served. Both food and drink will be available from BNA.

There are two single user, gender-neutral washrooms available and the space is wheelchair accessible.

Our programming is made possible by the City of Kelowna, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, and BNA Brewery.

We respectfully acknowledge that we live and work in the unceded, ancestral territory of the Syilx people. It is a privilege to be able to put on events as uninvited guests on their land.