House of Parlance Blog

Shane Koyczan just returned from laying down the new rules of performance poetry at the Auckland Writers Festival and the Sydney Writers Festival. Both events sold-out of his book, Visiting Hours, very early on and could have sold a ton more if they’d only known about the sort of passionate enthusiasm Shane inspires in his audiences. Also, Shane received rare standing ovations at each festival. Imagine that!

We’ve received a lot of positive reviews from people associated with the festivals. Booksellers and festival organizers have sent us messages expressing their amazement at the impact of Shane’s poetry and their excitement over the injection of energy that he brought to both festivals.

The New Zealand Herald said it best “If the festival had a Supreme Award, Canadian performance poet Shane Koyczan would have won it, packing out the lower theatre and receiving a standing ovation. Koyczan played heartstrings like a brilliant fiddler.”

But the finest and most genuine commentary that I’ve read came from Amy Brown who saw Shane perform in Auckland. Her review of the performance in the Lumiere Reader was brilliant and honest. Amy hears the echoes of Homer, Ginsberg and Kerouac in Shane’s work and even likens some of his similes and metaphors to those of James “Worshipful Company of Fletchers” Tate – to my mind one of the finest poets writing today.

The beauty of Amy’s review is in how she describes her fight against her natural skepticism of Shane’s poetry and performance. For instance, “I was initially repelled; this wasn’t poetry as I knew it, this was rap. Where was the familiar lack of eye contact, polite inhibition and predictable flicking of pages?” Ah yes, those dusty staples of our purest art, how is it that anyone could possible step beyond them? To her credit she listens beyond her expectations and notes, “I wouldn’t say that Shane Koyczan is the best poet in the world, but I will say that he is the most impressive that I’ve ever seen. New Zealand has no one like him, or if we do, we’re not encouraging them. Poetry in New Zealand is far less about performance than about pages in journals, restrained readings at galleries and the occasional musical-literary collaborations.”

Not just in New Zealand, Amy, but everywhere. We’re very proud of Shane’s talent and vision. We know that he can provide the spark that will give courage to new voices anywhere he performs.