I have two words for you: Shane Koyczan.
You may remember him from a lunch-time salon at a BCTELA conference a few years ago, or you might have seen him preform at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
Shane Koyczan is a BC spoken word artist, poet, and author. He has won a number of slam poetry competitions and is currently on a performance tour. He creates and performs provocative, heartfelt, and funny poems suitable for middle school and up (some are more appropriate for younger listeners than others.)
He is becoming widely known for his poem “To this day,” the popularity of which is growing into a full anti-bullying campaign. You can see more videos of his work on his website here.
We think Shane Koyczan is great. You might too!