Shane Koyczan is one of the world’s premier spoken word performers. His book, Visiting Hours, was hailed as a Books of the Year Selection by The Guardian (UK) and the Globe and Mail (Canada) newspapers. Shane was featured in Quill & Quire magazine in May 2006.

Born and raised in northwestern Canada, Shane was the first poet from outside the USA to win the prestigious USA National Individual Poetry Slam.

He has performed to full houses around the world - from university amphitheaters to the most respected music and literary festivals. He has rocked the stage at the Edinburgh Book Festival, the Vancouver International Writers Festival, the Winnipeg Folk Festival and the 2007 Canada Day Celebrations in Ottawa.

Listen to Shane’s poem for Canada entitled ‘We Are More‘
(commissioned by the Canadian Tourism Commission) or watch him perform it on Vancouver’s Spanish Banks.

Acclaim for Shane’s poetry and performance has come from many diverse and respected sources - from renowned rockers Gordon Downey, Joel Pott & Dave Bidini to David Robinson, Literary Editor of The Scotsman, and Patrick Neate, winner of the Whitbread Prize and host of London’s Bookslam.

Shane brings enormous vitality and virtuosity to every performance.His warmth, wit and sincerity are a hit with crowds of all ages. His lyricism inspires audiences and readers alike because Shane’s poems speak directly to the heart.

As David Bidini wrote in his review of Visiting Hours in the Globe and Mail’s 2005 Books of the Year edition…

“…and so, a whole new generation of rhyme readers will be born.”

Check out Shane's EPK from SonicBids

Visit his MySpace.com site

Shane was commissioned by the Canadian Tourism Commission to write a 'Poem for Canada' in early 2007. Shane wrote "We Are More" and has performed it to ovations across the country. It's a heartwarming, tear-jerking homage to Canada and can be read here and downloaded right here or the radio edit.

Praise for the Poetry and Performance of Shane Koyczan

" If the [Auckland Writers] Festival had a Supreme Award, Canadian performance poet Shane Koyczan would have won it, packing the lower theatre and receiving a standing ovation. Koyczan played the heart strings like a brilliant fiddler."

- The New Zealand Herald

"Shane Koyczan was a surprise hit. His raw poems about love, sex and cancer made the audience laugh and cry. Along with O'Hagan and Hirsi Ali, he received on of the festival's passionate standing ovations."

- Wendy Were, Artistic Director, Sydney Writers Festival

"Homer must have sounded [like this]… or Ginsberg or Kerouac."

- Amy Brown, The Lumiere Reader

"It's time to hand out a few awards. Best chairman: Ian Rankin. Best poetry reading: Shane Koyczan. Best superstar: Salman Rushdie."

- David Robinson, Literary Editor, The Scotsman, August 30, 2005

"Shane Koyczan's performance at the Edinburgh International Book Festival was one of the outstanding successes of our program. Not only did the event sell out, but the buzz from the audience was remarkable. [M]any said it was the best event they had seen all festival.."

- Catherine Lockerbie, Artistic Director, Edinburgh Book Festival

"A big Kelvinator of a man who loves "women and free food," Shane swallowed the stage with the power of his verse, stepping from subdued deep hot sad love poetry to hip-hop power chord meta-meter, throttling the crowd with the weight of his rhymes, and effectively wiping the stage with us.

And so, a whole new generation of rhyme readers will be born."

- Dave Bidini, author/musician, Toronto Globe and Mail, Best Books of 2005 Supplement

" He has an ability to take you straight to the heart.... He makes you feel the depth of love, joy and pain in everyday life."

- Joel Pott, singer/musician, The Guardian, Best Books of 2005 Supplement

There'll be comparisons aplenty – Gary Snyder, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave, Paul Durcan, John Cooper Clarke – but Koyczan is staking out his own literary acreage for himself. Koyczan employs a mysterious light touch to rip open your ribcage. Allow it.

- Colum McCann, Esquire Magazine Writer of the Year 2003, author of Zoli

"Shane is a real star … Undoubtedly the best poet we've had in a long, long time."

- Patrick Neate: Whitbread Prize winner, host of Bookslam

"Shane Koyczan is electrifying. It's a rare poet who can make his audience laugh and cry; this is a writer who will break your heart then heal it."

- Val McDermid, author of The Grave Tattoo

"Shane's performance was absolutely mind blowing, life changing, and inspiring. …Now I don't really rave about people but SHANE KOYCZAN IS ONE OF THE MOST INCREDIBLE POETS I'VE EVER HEARD."

- Charlie Dark, Blacktronica (UK)

"Listening to 'My Darling Sara' (I left the ignition on, long after I'd parked, to hear the end of that one)… it all sounds like something's coming - a sound everyone asks for.
Ride hard, and ride, ride, ride."

- Gordon Downie, Musician/Songwriter, lead singer of the Tragically Hip