On Saturday, July 24 (3:00PM to 4:00PM), Owen Sound Waste Watchers will welcome Naomi Shihab Nye, US Young People’s Poet Laureate, to its online “Talkin’ Trash: Poetry in Motion” event.

Since April 2020, all in-person Owen Sound Waste Watchers' events have been cancelled. The community volunteer group revisioned their monthly activities as “apart & TOGETHER” with participants picking up litter on their own and gathering online afterwards to share ideas about reducing household waste.

July’s online event will focus on how international and local artists express their feelings about litter using words, both spoken and sung.

“The idea for this event came after a friend lent me Ms. Nye’s wonderful book – Cast Away. I was blown away! Ms. Nye is passionate about picking up litter and wonderfully expresses her personal response to this problem. The book contains lots of ideas about how everyone can create their own creative response, making the act of writing poetry accessible to those of us who don’t consider ourselves poets” says Laura Wood, Founder of Owen Sound Waste Watchers.

Naomi Shihab Nye will be interviewed and then will read selections from her collection Cast Away: Poems for Our Time. The book is available at the Owen Sound Library and for purchase online.

The Zoom event will also feature local artists including Owen Sound's current and inaugural Poets Laureate, Richard-Yves Sitoski and Liz Zetlin, who will present their own spoken-word poetry. David Sereda will join to share his poetry through song.

The event is free and open to 100 participants. To register, visit the Owen Sound Waste Watchers' website for more details or email [email protected].

source: media release, Owen Sound Waste Watchers