Electric Mermaid Live Reads Featuring: Cynthia Woodman Kerkham @Char's

Wednesday May 27th 2026 doors 5:30pm open mic 6-8pm

Cynthia Woodman Kerkham has published two full-length poetry collections, one chapbook and one co-edited anthology, Poems from Planet Earth.

She’s been a finalist for the CBC Poetry Prize, the Gwendolyn MacEwen Poetry Competition and many magazine contests.

She’s won the John Lent Poetry/Prose Award, the Malahat Review’s Open Season Award, the FBCW Poetry Prize, and has been selected for Poetry in Transit.

Her latest book, Water Quality, was nominated for the DC Reid Poetry Prize.

She lives, writes and teaches in Victoria BC on the traditional lands of the Lək̓ʷəŋən speaking peoples where she hasn’t found a body of water she doesn’t love.

Cynthia Woodman book, Water Quality, is for sale in all major bookstores, including Munro’s, Indigo, and Russell Books.

It is also for sale online from the publisher: https://www.mqup.ca/Books/W/Water-Quality

Here’s a review of Water Quality https://thebcreview.ca/2025/01/16/2425-levenson-woodman-kerkham/

What to Expect: Whether you join the Electric Mermaid in person at Char’s Landing or via Zoom, expect to enjoy an eclectic array of open mic readers sharing brief (5 minute max) samples from their literary, and sometimes musical, works, along with a longer reading from one or more featured reader(s) sharing published, or soon to be published, work. Come engage with a dynamic and inspiring literary event that welcomes and encourages writers at all levels of development.

The Electric Mermaid is a hybrid literary event that began over 20 years ago under the banner of Words on Fire. First organized by North Island College creative writing students Fran Thiessen, Vicki Drybrough, and Libbie Morin, monthly meetings took place in Smitty’s Restaurant on 3rd Avenue in Port Alberni with reader’s voices competing with the clatter of dishes emanating from the kitchen. After a brief stint in another café, Words on Fire graduated to Char’s Landing where it persisted for a few years before its resurrection into its current iteration as Electric Mermaid, named in honour of Luma, a mermaid sculpture that illuminates the hall at Char’s. Covid pushed the event onto Zoom, and it continues to thrive as a hybrid event enjoyed by audiences live at Char’s and across Canada and beyond on Zoom.

Electric Mermaid: Live Reads from Char's Landing, Port Alberni, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada and via ZOOM !

Spoken Word Open Mic, last Wednesday of each month, Char's physical doors open 5:30pm Pacific Time, Live Reads 6-8pm

Emcee: Derek Hanebury Moderator: Karl Korven ZOOM Producer: Charlene Patterson

We also welcome you to join us via ZOOM and click this automatic ZOOM link below:

https://zoom.us/j/93236999892?pwd=N2FLZkxGMUhyTk5ySGVOenhuZFcxdz09

PRE-REGISTER and sign up for a 5-minute spot at the open mic by emailing ElectricMermaidReads@gmail.com

PayWhatYouCan cover in lieu of rental to help Char's Landing support the live arts gratefully accepted with our thanks.

OR eTransfer to electricmermaidreads@gmail.com please include the event date and your email address

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Char's Landing Hall & Hostel

4815 Argyle @5th, Port Alberni, BC

all ages listening venue Kids<=6 FREE

www.charslanding.com/events

call/whatsapp/text +1 (250) 730-1636

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Contact the host of Electric Mermaid Live Reads Featuring: Cynthia Woodman Kerkham @Char's