Poetry At Silence with Charlie Petch, Anna Swanson & Ziy Sah

DATE: Thursday, Oct. 16 th ,
TIME: Doors 7pm, show 7:30
VENUE: Silence, 46 Essex St, Guelph
Join us for an unforgettable evening of poetry and performance to celebrate the release of two new poetry collections from Brick Books: Infinite Audition by Charlie Petch and The Garbage Poems by Anna Swanson, with special performances by Lisa Baird and Ziysah von Bieberstein.Presented by SILENCE and BRICK BOOKS. Registration is free, with donations accepted at the door. Recent books from all four poets will be for sale at the event.CHARLIE PETCH (they/he) is a disabled & transmasculine multidisciplinary artist.
Their debut poetry collection, "Why I Was Late" (Brick Books), won the 2022 ReLit Award, and was named Best of 2021 by The Walrus. Their new poetry book “Infinite Audition” launched in Fall 2025 with Brick Books. Petch received a Golden Beret
Spoken Word Prize from the League of Canadian Poets. Their play “No one’s special at the hot dog cart” debuted in 2024 with Theatre Passe Muraille and Public Energy. They write plays, librettos, poems, and music and perform their work for audiences all over Turtle Island. http://www.charliecpetch.com/ANNA SWANSON (she/her) is a queer writer and librarian. The Garbage Poems (Brick Books, 2025) is her second collection of poetry. Her first book, The Nights Also (Tightrope Books, 2010), won the Gerald Lampert Award and a Lambda Literary Award.
She recently completed an MFA at the University of Guelph and lives in St. John’s on the island of Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland), where she works as a public librarian and a poetry editor for Riddle Fence Magazine. Her special interests include collective
liberation and wild swimming in all seasons. www.annaswanson.ca.LISA BAIRD is a queer poet, essayist and community acupuncturist. Her first poetry collection, Winter’s Cold Girls, was shortlisted for the 2020 Relit Award for poetry. Her
chapbook Persephone’s Crickets was published by Baseline Press in fall 2024. Her second poetry collection, When Whales Went Back to the Water, came out with UAlberta Press in 2025. Find her online at www.lisabaird.ca and on Insta @eramosageese.ZIYSAH VON BIEBERSTEIN is a poet, visionary, and unsettled settler who co-dreams collective futures here on Michi Saagiig Anishinaabe territory. A slam champ and founding member of the Peterborough Poetry Slam, ze has competed, performed, and facilitated workshops across Turtle Island. As co-founder of Take-Out Poetry, ze curates teams of poets to serve up fresh, customized, typewritten poetry from a bicycle-drawn cart. Ziysah’s collection, Consents +/=/- Severances, has been described as “ anecessary upheaval” and “an ecstatic kind of justice.” Ziysah served as Peterborough’s
Second Poet Laureate. https://ziysah.ca

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Silence Sounds, 46 Essex Street, Guelph, Canada