FREE THE VERSE! Word/Art Mini-Festival

Word/Art celebrates stories

Local spoken word artists are featured

In addition to the new show from Katie-Ellen, our Word/Art mini-festival celebrates spoken word and storytelling with FREE THE VERSE!, an all local cabaret, Saturday October 3, 6pm at the Intrepid Studio.

Featuring a diverse lineup of local poets, you’re in for a night of slant rhyme, storytelling, and sweet words. Don’t miss out on your chance to FREE THE VERSE!

Tharani Balachandran

Tharani Balachandran is a poet, lawyer, gossip lover and tea enthusiast who lives on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen peoples in Victoria with her husband, daughter and cat. She is the author of two chapbooks, including “Brown Sugar Skin” released in 2024 from Garden of Neuro publishing, and her work has appeared in numerous publications including On the Seawall, Island Writer and the Racket.

Kath Healing

Kath Healing (they/them) is a queer, non-binary and disabled poet and performer living in Victoria, BC. Their work has appeared in literary journals including The Malahat Review, Foglifter and Plenitude, and they perform regularly at literary, queer and community events around Victoria. Shortlisted for the 2026 Pulp Literature Kingfisher Poetry Prize and second overall in the Tongues of Fire Poetry Slam, their work moves through class, gender, disability, family and survival—and is not always solemn about it.

William Ngenda

He has performed as a feature poet for the VPP and Planet Earth Poetry, as well as taking part in I’m:print 2024 with the ICA. He has not been featured in any publications, and considers this one of many personal moral failings.

Emmett MacMillen

Emmett MacMillen (they/them) is a trans nonbinary interdisciplinary artist, writer, and event producer working on the unceded lands of the lekwungen People (Victoria, BC). They are the co-author of three publications, and recently was awarded second place in the 2025 Inspired Word Café Poetry Prize, as well as performed as a feature reader for the 2026 Tongues of Fire Spoken Word Series. Alongside their day job, they continue reading at open mics, writing, and performing in town as drag thing Earle Gay.