Due to popular demand, a second date has been added to celebrate a new collection of works written by former Peterborough poet laureate Ziysah von Bieberstein.
Joined by musician Nathanael Larochette, Ziysah will be launching At the Risk of Listening at Take Cover Books at 59 Hunter Street East in Peterborough’s East City on Friday, June 13 and Saturday, June 14 at 7 p.m.
Available online at www.takecoverbooks.ca/events, tickets are priced on a sliding scale in increments of $10, $5, and pay what you can.
The poet’s second printed collection, At the Risk of Listening is a collection of poetry, addresses, speeches, and other works composed and performed during their time as the City of Peterborough’s second poet laureate, which came to an end last September.
“When I looked back and made a list of all the events I’d done as poet laureate, it was amazing to see how many organizations I’ve worked with and how many places I’ve been,” Ziysah says.
“As a spoken word performer, you’re present and in the moment — it’s an experience and a time — and so the idea of having something that I could hold in my hand, and give to people and have a physical representation of that experience and that time, would be really special.”
At 65 pages long, the collection is broken up into three sections of work Ziysah wrote and performed during their term, with a description of where, when, and why each piece was presented.
The opening section, “For my City,” consists of four pieces and official addresses Ziysah presented to city council during the year. “For my People” is a collection about the “horrific violence that has been happening in Palestine and in Israel,” which Ziysah says, as a Jewish person, has been a “dominant” consideration throughout their time as laureate. The final section, “For my community,” consists of pieces written and presented for community events.
“People will definitely recognize some of the pieces, and some of the pieces will be new because they were all presented to different audiences,” Ziysah notes. “It has quite a lot of variety.”
At the Risk of Listening is named for the poem of the same title which was the final poem Ziysah presented to city council as poet laureate.
“It’s a piece about how it takes courage and vulnerability to open up and really listen and hear what people are telling us to hear — the emotions of people’s difficult experiences,” they say.
“It was really my plea to city council to try to move beyond their comfort zone and really hear the many people that are trying to express the needs and hardships of this community.”
VIDEO: “At the Risk of Listening” by Ziysah von Bieberstein at Peterborough City Council (September 23, 2024)
According to Ziysah, having the opportunity to speak directly to council was one of the most significant parts of being poet laureate.
Ziysah recall ones of their most memorable moments was an event for Family Literary Day, which saw them perform a script alongside the mayor, MP, MPP, the Chiefs of Curve Lake and Hiawatha First Nations, as well as the fire and police chiefs.
“I really think that’s what people are excited about when it comes to the poet laureate role (is) that there’s an official position of a person who’s coming to things from a creative perspective,” Ziysah says. “The poet brings a different perspective that’s more focused on creativity and people’s emotions and experiences.”
Although city council reversed a decision to defund the Electric City Culture Council (EC3) — which administers the Poet Laureate program — in the city’s 2025 budget, council paused funding for the program for 2025.
“I think it’s a really beautiful important role that I really hope will continue,” Ziysah says.
“What I would like to see happen in the future is to develop a poet laureate role that is even more integrated and where that is a dignitary that is invited to all official events.”
In At the Risk of Listening, Ziysah’s written works are printed alongside artwork from Bruno Merz, a multi-disciplinary artist in Peterborough known for leading Showmakers, a local musical theatre program for children.
“Working with him was incredible because his work is incredible,” says Ziysah. “There’s a lot of content in the pieces and so having even that little moment when you’re finished a piece to look at his artwork before moving on to the next piece, I find that really helps the collection feel more spacious and more alive.”
At the two launch events at Take Cover Books, Ziysah will be joined by Nathan Larochette, an Ottawa-based guitarist, composer, writer, spoken word poet, and award-winning arts educator.
“I love this work and as a spoken word poet, I know the value that adding music to a poetry event can bring so I’m always happy to contribute in that way,” says Larochette. “I think as a musician going to a poetry event, it’s important to have an understanding of the energies that happen and how to complement them, because it is very different atmosphere than the music show.”
Larochette and Ziysah — who is grateful the launch events are taking place during Pride month since it was a theme throughout their time as poet laureate — promise there will be completely different sets for each night of the launch, and both evenings will see a combination of poetry, music, and poetry and music together.
“Normally at a book launch, you just go to the event and hear a couple of excepts from the book, and then you mingle,” says Ziysah. “But this is going to be a full show.”
