“Furious honesty and tender humanity.” That’s what world-renowned spoken word artist, poet and author Shane Koyczan, is bringing to Coast Hospice’s Gala Concert on Sept. 16 at Sechelt’s Rockwood Pavilion to celebrate 30 years of Hospice services on the Sunshine Coast.
Winner of the U.S. Slam Poetry Championship and the Canadian Spoken Word Olympics, Koyczan is truly an extraordinary talent that blows the dust off the traditional designation of poet. He shines a light into the bleak world of loneliness and grief to reveal the healing power of love.
Described by Huffington Post as “heartbreaking and ultimately uplifting,” and by Georgia Straight as “a beacon of hope and change,” Koyczan is best known for his award-winning spoken word performances. His rhythmic verse in high gear, he navigates his audience through social and political territory with both furious honesty and tender humanity bringing audiences to their feet around the globe, including, of course, Sechelt in 2009 at the Festival of the Written Arts.
Koyczan blew everyone away with his performance at the opening of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. In 2013 he collaborated with animators to make the anti-bullying video To This Day with over 18 million views. He performed For the Bullied and the Beautiful to acclaim at the 2013 International TED Conference in California.
He shapes his words and delivers them in many media from print, video and spoken word to operatic and musical.
His first published collection of poetry, Visiting Hours, was the only work of poetry selected by both the Guardian and The Globe and Mail for their 2005 Best Books of the Year lists. He followed this success with Stickboy, a novel in verse that chronicles the dark and lonely journey of a bullied child gripped by helpless rage.
The evening starts at 6:30 p.m. with a jazz and wine reception in the Rockwood Gardens with popular performers Ken Dalgleish (keys), Budge Schachte (guitar) and Randy Rayment (sax).
The concert segment opens in the Pavilion at 8 p.m. with local singer/songwriter Simon Paradis and author Kara Stanley, whose acclaimed memoir, Fallen: A Trauma, a Marriage, and the Transformative Power of Music, is a gripping story about love, strength and the musical journey to recovery from a devastating accident. Paradis said, “In 2008, when I suffered a life-threatening brain and spinal cord injury, it seemed unlikely I would ever play music again. Instead, it turned out that music was the perfect therapy to navigate my long recovery.”
Paradis now performs solo, in a duo with Joe Stanton and in various Sunshine Coast bands including the High Bar Gang. Stanley holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC. Her writing has appeared in Fugue, HipMama and Paste.
This is one concert you don’t want to miss! Get your tickets early at the Sechelt Visitor Centre, MELOmania in Roberts Creek, Laedeli in Gibsons or online at www.share-there.com, $30 in advance, $35 at the door if there are any left.
This event is made possible thanks to the generous support of Trail Bay Properties, Howe Sound Pulp and Paper, Howe Sound Pharmacy, Harbour Air and Coast Reporter.
– Submitted by Donna Shugar
