I am stepping away from the Hot-Sauced Words microphone effective April 2017.

 
The first show was held at It’s Not A Deli at Queen & Ossington in March 2006. The last show was held at The Supermarket in March 2017.

It certainly has been a treat organizing and hosting HOT-SAUCED WORDS POETRY (IS COMMUNITY) for the last eleven years.

I have shared the stage with so many powerful voices. I have always appreciated the honour of providing a safe space and a firm stage for poets to take a breath and exhale their magical words out into the world.

Thanks to everyone who has ever shouted out feedback to a poet during the “Gimme a Line” segments, and to all of those writers who responded to the “Poetry Themed Challenge” by writing from the heart and having the nerve to get up on stage and share fresh poems at the end of each show.

Tallying the votes for Best Poem and Best Performance was one of my favourite parts of the show. But the energy in the room always supported every single person who entered the challenge. Courage supplies its own reward.

A special thanks to Sue Reynolds for supporting the show from the very beginning and her tireless assistance. Hot-Sauced Words has always been a joint effort.
 
And a special thanks to KIRSTEN SANDWICH (Pelayo Matute, Taavi Burns and Kirsten Nelson), who always came through every December and performed marvelously at the POETRY ANTI-PAGEANT SHOW.
 
Over the life of the series they inspired the poetry community in Toronto to raise $3,265 for The Daily Bread Foodbank!

Thanks to all of those fabulous friends and poets who showed up to so many shows. There were a few nights over the years when we had the place to ourselves and yet, undaunted, you ensured we tripped the light fantastic. You know who you are!

Best regards to all. Hope to see you at a poetry reading soon.

James Dewar