An Evening with Nisha Patel

Join us on Monday, June 24 at 7 p.m. as we welcome the wonderful author and former Canadian Poetry Slam champion, Nisha Patel, for an evening conversation about poetry, process, and writing from the self.

Patel’s new work, A Fate Worse than Death, is a stunning poetic investigation of the worthiness of disabled life as told through Patel’s evaluation of her own medical records over the course of a decade.

Living with treatment-resistant diabetes, bipolar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder and complex chronic pain, Patel reveals how her multiple disabilities intertwine with her day-to-day life, even when care and treatments are not available. As she works through bouts of illness, she shows how poetry gives her a way to resist the sway of medical hegemony and instead offer complex accounts of pain, sickness, and anger — but also love.

Patel will be in conversation with Upstart & Crow staffer Franz Seachel, a fellow poet. Books will be available for sale and signing. This event is free, but please register for your spot on this Eventbrite page, as capacity is limited.

About the author:

Nisha Patel is the Poet Laureate Emeritus of the City of Edmonton. An award-winning disabled and queer artist, she is a Canadian Poetry Slam champion and holds a Masters of Arts in Cultural Studies from Queen’s University. Her debut poetry collection, Coconut, is published by NeWest Press, alongside her latest chapbooks. Her second book, A Fate Worse than Death, is published by Arsenal Pulp Press. She is a recipient of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Medal and the Edmonton Artists’ Trust Fund. She is currently finishing her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at UBC. Patel lives and writes from her home in Edmonton, Alberta, with her partner, fellow author and intellectual ally Matthew James Weigel. Her website is nishapatel.ca, and you can find her online @anothernisha.

About the moderator:

Franz Seachel is a South-Asian settler residing on unceded Coast-Salish lands of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and šxʷməθkʷəy̓əmaɁɬ təməxʷ (Musqueam) Nations. She’s a multidisciplinary artist, organizer, and workshop facilitator. Franz has a B.A. in Creative Writing from Kwantlen Polytechnic University. She is the founder and executive director of Enable: Arts Society, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting community-based and collaborative art projects by emerging and/or marginalized voices. Their work has been featured at Word Vancouver, Voices of Today in Toronto, Vancouver Poetry Slam, Richmond World Festival, Victoria Poetry Project and Surrey Muses. You can follow her on Instagram at @franz_seachel.

More about Upstart & Crow:

Located on Granville Island, Upstart & Crow is a literary arts studio for curious readers and creative storytellers alike. We are international in our outlook, and local in our sensibilities. We create opportunities to surface new talent and champion bold ideas through events, workshops, literary launches, unique partnerships — and yes, we also sell books!

Health precautions:

We want this event to be fun and safe. Masks are welcome, though we won’t enforce them. We hope that folks who come will be vaccinated and boosted and will stay home if they feel ill.

Accessibility:

The main studio of our shop is accessible for folks with mobility aids. There is a washroom on the main floor available for attendees.

Questions: hello@upstartandcrow.com.