Join us for a celebration of public art and poetry, as we mark 30 years of the Edmonton Arts Council and the addition of the 300^th public artwork to the City of Edmonton Public Art Collection with a month of 300@30 activities and events!

Mary Burlie was a force of compassion, devoting her life to lifting up others. Known lovingly as the ​"Black Angel of Boyle Street", she served on the front lines of inner-city Edmonton, offering food, shelter, support, and above all, dignity to those most in need.

As part of the City of Edmonton's revitalization project of Mary Burlie Park in downtown Edmonton, the Edmonton Arts Council has selected three local poets to create poetry that will be incorporated into the park design. In advance of the park opening in 2026, join Edmonton Arts Council, the family of Mary Burlie, and poets Titilope Sonuga, Naomi McIlwraith, and Cui Jinzhe for a morning of stories and spellbinding poetry.

This event is free to attend, but please pre-register to reserve your spot.

If you require ASL interpretation or other access considerations in order to attend this event, please email support@​edmontonarts.​ca and we will do our best to accommodate you.

About the poets

Titilope Sonuga
Titilope Sonuga is an award-winning poet, playwright, and performer. Her poetry concert Open has been shown to sold-out audiences around the world. She has published three poetry collections: Down to Earth (2011), Abscess (2014), and This Is How We Disappear (2019), and has released three spoken word albums: Mother Tongue (2011), Swim (2019), and Sis (2024). She was nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding New Opera for Sankofa, her libretto reimagining Igor Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat. Sonuga has written campaigns for global brands and served as an ambassador for Intel's She Will Connect, a program to empower women and girls across Africa through technological literacy. She made history as the first poet to perform at a Nigerian presidential inauguration and served as Edmonton's 9^th Poet Laureate.

Naomi McIlwraith
Naomi recently moved from the Indigenous Peoples Experience at Fort Edmonton Park to City Operations to work as the Indigenous Framework Operations Coordinator. A writer, poet, essayist, storyteller, and peacemaker, Naomi is delighted to lead Indigenous Framework workshops as one way that she can contribute to a larger effort to foster better healthier relationships between Indigenous Peoples and non-Indigenous Peoples in the City of Edmonton. She leads land acknowledgement workshops, reads poetry publicly in Edmonton and area, and is frequently asked to speak on matters not just of the heart but also of justice. She is smiling a lot these days because after a lifetime of learning how, she has finally found her voice — and all this talking is exciting for a shy girl who loves to hear stories and loves to tell a story too! In her work and her life, Naomi honours her parents, her family, and her community.

Cui Jinzhe
Cui Jinzhe, whose pen name is Qiu Shi, is a painter, poet, and multidisciplinary artist who has been painting, writing and practising music since her childhood. Jinzhe was born and raised in Dalian, China, where she earned a BA (Visual Communication) at School of Arts Design from Dalian University of Foreign Languages and a MA (Mixed Media) at Dalian Polytechnic University. In 2008, Jinzhe moved to Canada to continue her studies and work as an independent artist in Edmonton. Her work explores the integration between visual art, poetry, and interdisciplinary practice, often within an interactive public context.