Canadian poet John Stiles stars in Scouts Are Cancelled at Hot Docs

Canadian poet John Stiles is the subject of a documentary called Scouts Are Cancelled (also the title of Stiles' first book of poems) that will debut tonight in Toronto's Hot Docs Festival. Here's what critic Geoff Pevere recently wrote in the Toronto Star:

"Scouts Are Cancelled: Watching John Stiles performing his poetry – which largely evokes his childhood growing up in Nova Scotia's rural Annapolis Valley – is like watching someone lost in a trance. He squeezes his eyes shut, channels the voices of his speakers and loudly emits the sounds of growling dogs, wailing sirens and non-verbal whoops of joy and despair. An original artist with an unsurprisingly obtuse relationship with the world, he has become the subject of a film – made by his close friend John Scott – that is both true to the poet's art and understanding of the person's idiosyncrasies.

It runs tonight at The ROM Theatre at 9:30 pm.
and
Saturday, April 28th, at 7:45 pm at The Al Green Theatre.

In related news, John's first audio CD is now available!