In the countdown to this year’s Shuswap Youth Launch event, Canadian poet and motiviational speaker Wali Shah will be making a solo appearance at the Salmar Classic.
On Thursday, April 27, Shah will be sharing the stage at the Classic with fellow inspirational guest speakers Sam Demma and Salmon Arm’s Missy Mackintosh for Shuswap Youth Launch, an event organized by and for youth.
This will be Shah’s second time taking part in the event. This year he will be speaking on mental health and toxic masculinity.
The evening before Shuswap Youth Launch, on April 26, Shah is scheduled for a special public engagement at the Classic. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. and tickets, $30 each, are available at salmartheatre.com.
In 2014, Shah was named one of Canada’s “Top 2o under 20” by Plan International Canada, a not-for-profit group that promotes social justice for youth and their families in developing countries. In 2019, he was a recipient of an RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award. Shah has delivered TED talks, created poetic messages for corporate groups, narrated voice overs for commercials, and spoken at hundreds of schools and colleges across North America.
“Wali’s message of social change, and his work with empowering a generation of youth, led him to serving his hometown as Poet Laureate for the City of Mississauga,” reads Shah’s bio. “Wali closed out President Barack Obama’s 2020 visit to Toronto, with a poem written particularly for the event. He’s impressed notable figures with his freestyle poetry and performances, including: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Kendrick Lamar. Wali’s work inspires thousands to follow his voice, his journey, and his advocacy — Wali Shah is the people’s messenger.”
Shuswap Youth Launch runs 9:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., with the speakers and interactive activities at the Classic followed once more by lunch at the Ross Street Plaza. The event is being sponsored by Salmon Arm’s three Rotary clubs, Community Futures Shuswap, Toliver Advertising & Design and Shuswap Orthodontics, whose staff will once again be helping out with the lunch.
To learn more about this year’s Shuswap Youth Launch and the guest speakers, read the Shuswap Youth Launch post on the school district website, sd83.bc.ca.
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lachlan@saobserver.net
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