A Chinese Nightingale with new recorded version, Walking with the Star with three versions, two in English, one live music, one recorded in Studio and one beautiful Chinese version by musicians from Taiwan’s Poetry Factor: 唤醒 and other two works by 詩歌工廠: 《雪之夢》and 化妆舞会.
On July 27, 2025, the Canada-China International Cultural Artists Association and the Canada-China International Cultural Arts Center co-hosted their First Canada-China Symposium on Chinese and Western Poetry at the New Time Club. Ten Canadian poets and forty Chinese writers and artists were brought together to explore how poetry can preserve Chinese cultural heritage while fostering dialogue with Western traditions. The gathering emphasized mutual understanding and cultural exchange through poetic expression.
Albert Moritz, former Toronto Poet Laureate, opened with reflections on cultural differences and his visits to China. Anna Yin presented original multimedia works from her Poetry and Music project with guitarist Mark Harry. Gutu gave a talk titled “Images and Sounds” on poetic expression across cultures and languages.
Poets including Allan Briesmaster, Bunny Iskov, Diana Manole, Patrick Connors, Paul Edward Costa, Renee M. Sgroi, and other Chinese poets shared their work and insights. The event also featured performances by musicians, educators, and artists. Sincere thanks to all the guests and participants for contributing their artistic voices to foster a shared sense of connection and celebration of the arts. Many thanks to more than ten Chinese media outlets covering this event!
We will share new piece: Walking with Star,My Accent, Poetry and Music, There Must Be Something & Beautiful Hope in Aug Aug 6, Amphitheatre Unplugged (8-9pm) Celebration Square, Mississauga)
Peace and Harmony through Poetry and Music is a cross-disciplinary collaboration uniting poets and musicians to explore language, sound, and cultural expression. Through compositions, performances, and filming, the project weaves poetry and music into a unified experience, fostering cross-cultural dialogue, creative exchange, and a shared vision of peace and harmony.
Poet Anna Yin will lead this project and collaborate with three to four musicians from diverse cultural and musical backgrounds. Please click here to see steps and details.
We are very happy that this project won a Matchmaker Microgrant from MAC in 2025! MAC’s MicroGrant program is supported in part by RAMA Gaming Centre through the Mississauga Charitable Gaming Association!
“Poet and author Anna Yin used her Matchmaker MicroGrant to produce the ebook Polyphonic celebration for Mississauga’s 50th Anniversary – 2024. This heartfelt, community-engaged work captures the essence of local artists, particularly writers, celebrating Mississauga’s 50th anniversary through poems, stories, paintings, and photos. The ebook can be served as a “yearbook” of 2024, and captures writing in English, Chinese, Japanese, Hindi and Persian. The book is written in three parts – the first explores the friendship between Mississauga and its sister city, Kariya, Japan, through poetry, particularly haikus. The second section features interviews with Mississauga community leaders and poetry writing on events that took place in Mississauga in 2024 and prior. Highlights include tributes to long-running Mayor Hazel McCallion and insights into what the future of Mississauga will hold. The final part showcases haikus written by students at Clifford International School in Guangzhou, China, guided by Anna during her 2024 travels. ” — Mississauga Arts Council, Oct 24, 2024
Mississauga is home to Indigenous peoples and diverse ethnic groups. Over years, Mississauga has evolved from small villages into a modern city. This project is a unique project designed and lead by Anna Yin to celebrate Mississauga’s 50th anniversary by collecting stories from different people and arts in Mississauga, creating a new set of poetry, and collaborating with artists and translators to create polyphonic celebration. With a Matchmaker Microgrant from MAC in Dec, 2023 and sponsorship from local business and artists, this project started on Jan 1, 2024. The followings are some highlighs:
Thank sponsors for their great support! Please also check our previous successful projects with the following link. You are welcome to join us for this new project in 2024!
As always, in National Poetry Month there are many great ways to celebrate poetry. Here we share a few Anna Yin’s Poetry Alive at schools and other Poetry events. Please feel free to check more.