Kicking Off Another Season of Creativity and Connection
Inspired Word Café Launches a New Season at Hello Darlin'
Inspired Word Café (IWC) is kicking off a new season with a classic open mic event in a new venue for the season, Hello Darlin’. IWC events bring poets and audiences together to celebrate the power of words.
IWC invites writers, performers, and audiences to come together for a season of events showcasing poetry, prose, music, and more. Through live readings and performances by community members, alongside featured guest authors and poets, Inspired Word Café celebrates creativity, connection, and storytelling.
“We strive to make our events an inclusive and encouraging space, and we are always stunned by the talented poets and writers in our community,” says Cole Mash, IWC Executive Director. “Whether you share poetry, storytelling, comedy, dance, or song, all creative voices are welcome.”
The first Open Mic is scheduled for Thursday, October 1st at Hello Darlin’, a honky tonk speakeasy found in BNA Brewing at the top of the stairs and through a convenience store’s pop vending machine. Doors and sign-up are at 6:30 pm. The space is wheelchair accessible and offers single-user, gender-neutral washrooms.
“We're thrilled to move our events upstairs to Hello Darlin', one of the Nixon Hospitality Group’s best kept secrets in the Okanagan scene. This venue change will bring a fresh energy to what we do at IWC,” Mash adds.
This event will also be the launch of the 2026 IWC Anthology & Poetry Prize—a printed curated collection of poetry that reflects the diverse voices and experiences of our local poets.
“We are excited to be announcing the winners of the poetry prize and launching the newest anthology at the kick-off event. We hear powerful and moving work from our poets at each of our events, and we're delighted to see some of those voices featured in this anthology,” says Michael V. Smith, an IWC jury member for the contest.
The top three poems will receive prize money, sponsored by a private donor. Copies of the anthology are $10 each with all proceeds supporting IWC programming.
IWC has a busy season coming up this fall with open mic and open slam events, a special Halloween edition of the Open Mic on Oct. 29th, and presenting multiple featured readers such as Rina Garcia Chua, Cherie Hanson, Glenna Turnbull, and Johnny MacRae. There will be three free writing workshops this fall, hosted respectively by Rina Garcia Chua, Glenna Turnbull, and Steven Taylor.
jaz papadopoulos headlines a Season 16 Say Anything/Something IWC event. Photo by Jessica Zais Photography.
A performer at Many Tongues, a multilingual Open Mic IWC event co-organized by Espaces francophones. Photo by Inspired Word Café.
For a full schedule of events, visit https://www.inspiredwordcafe.com/events
IWC programming is supported by the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, Canada Council for the Arts, City of Kelowna, the Province of British Columbia, the Government of Canada, the Central Okanagan Foundation, British Columbia Arts Council, the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan, Okanagan Regional Library - Mission, and Hello Darlin’.
Media Contact: Britt MacKenzie-Dale, britt@inspiredwordcafe.com
About IWC
Inspired Word Café (IWC) is an educational arts organization that provides accessible literary arts programming for people from all walks of life.