Vancouver often gets slammed for being a tough place to meet others, and for people sticking in cliques and social silos without talking to each other. A local festival begs to differ—and it's one that celebrates slamming too.

Jillian Christmas, the artistic director of the Verses Festival of Words (which runs from April 5 to 12), tells the Georgia Straight by phone that her East Vancouver event is intent on breaking down barriers and bringing people together through the power of verbal expression.

"There's sometimes an idea that there's a division between the literary community and the spoken word community, or a division between these visual artists and what we do on the stage, or any division at all, and the purpose for me for this festival is to break down all of those barriers and bring these people together and bring us all together to kind of celebrate each other and to be present in each other's work because really in my mind and I think in the mind of Chris [Gilpin], there is no real division."

Now in her second year as artistic director, she's particularly excited how the fourth annual festival presented by Vancouver Poetry House (held during National Poetry Month), has expanded in numerous ways. This year, it's grown from about 24 to 33 shows, will include visual art installations, and will feature a new element: Talk the Talk, a participatory free three-part anti-oppression discussion about race, sexual politics, and accessibility.

She's particularly excited about one of their marquee events, "Sounds Like Fire" (April 7), which will feature Magpie Ulysses and James Lamb, performing prose poems to a six-string soundtrack; Bellingham poet Robert Lashley; and African-Jamaican-Canadian dubpoet d'bi.young.

"I think the title really is indicative of what it's going to be like," Christmas says.

As a spoken word poet herself, Christmas draws inspiration from d'bi.young.

"What she does on the stage is just so powerful," Christmas says. "She really draws the audience into this performance poetry that goes through the history, really the building blocks of what spoken word is and how important it is to the community, and talks about our collective history and where we are now and how we can move forward."

Speaking of moving forward, evolution is an integral aspect of the festival in how it encourages artists to experiment and explore interdisciplinary work.

"Part of the focus of the festival is to bring different artists together to mingle with other artists and see what new manifestation of spoken word can come from that," Christmas says.

Among the multimedia shows on this year's program is the book launch of C.R. Avery's Some Birds Walk For the Hell of It (April 6). Christmas says the show will include a little bit of burlesque, video, and a huge set—but she doesn't want to give too much away. Instead, she puts it this way: Avery "always has a few aces up his sleeve".

There's also the transgender-themed multimedia show "Gender Failure", featuring the talents of fest fave Ivan Coyote (Christmas said Coyote's performance with Veda Hille last year brought her to tears) with singer-songwriter Rae Spoon, who will launch their new book of the same name.

These are just a few highlights from a weeklong schedule that offers a plethora of options. Like many festivals, figuring out what to go see can be daunting for newbies to browse through. Christmas, however, has a few words of wisdom to offer.

For those who are new to slam, she recommends checking out the Last Chance Slam (April 7). Hosted by comedic writer and the Archduke of Awesome, Mighty Mike McGee from Bellingham, Washington (who Christmas calls an East Van favourite), she says it promises to be "an electrifying show". The person who wins Last Chance Slam wins a spot in the Canadian Individual Poetry Slam Championship (April 10, 11, and 12).

Christmas also recommends hanging out at the Afterwords Lounge, which will be held on several evenings at Astorino's. Christmas explains that it's a chance for people to mix and mingle and for those new to community to make connections to explore the festival with. 

In fact, Christmas says that when she moved here from Toronto a few years ago, she didn't really know how to tap into the local community and felt isolated. Things changed after participating in the festival's poetry slam and being surrounded by poet friends from across Canada. She's now providing that opportunity for others—and with such a plentiful lineup of events to attend (visit the Verses Festival website for details), she's certainly lived up to her word.