Barbara Adler

 

Stories

Workshops

Music = FANG!

Friendly.

- The Georgia Straight, Vancouver
“(Adler) writes smart, funny, and often deeply moving poetry around questions of history, identity, and self-image”
- Uptown Magazine, Winnipeg
“Adler's carefully crafted rants are breathlessly precise”
- Times Colonist, Victoria
“Adler’s stage presence is uniquely engaging”
- The Fugitives, in Uptown Magazine, Winnipeg
Accompanying themselves on various combinations of banjo, guitar, melodica and percussion, The Fugitives are capable of achieving dizzying, Arcade Fire-ish crescendos, replete with parallel melodies, complex harmonies and brimming torrents of emotion.”
Executive Director, Dylan Thomas Festival - The Fugitives, at the Dylan Thomas Festival, UK
"One of the best events we’ve ever had…right up there with Allen Ginsberg and Ken Kesey"
Shefield, UK - The Fugitives, at Off the Shelf Festival
"The Fugitives are one of the most innovative, exciting, and accomplished groups of musicians and poets I have ever seen…the best show in fifteen years of the festival"
Susan Stenson - English and Creative Writing, Clairemont Secondary School
“Please take my word for it. Book The Fugitives now. Brendan McLeod and Barbara Adler are experienced professionals, master craftsmen and outstanding performers. They are young, energetic, and inspiring. And most importantly for school shows, they speak directly to the students in a caring and respectful manner. No ego or condescension here… Brendan and Barbara also do writing and performing workshops for kids. They have a plethora of ways to get this stuff out of the body and onto the page and then off of the page and into the air…Students get excited about poetry and about performing after watching Barbara and Brendan.”
Terence Young - Head of English @ St. Michael's University School
“To any and all lovers of poetry everywhere: Some things I can do with a clear conscience, and some things I can’t. Endorsing The Fugitives as one of the finest, most talented, entertaining and infectious performance poetry collectives is one of the things I can do with a conscience as endless and blue as a prairie summer sky.”
Katy Price - Leader of English and Writing: Anglia Ruskin College, Cambridge
“The effect of the workshop and performance on participants was unlike anything I have previously experienced during my eight years as a teacher and an event promoter…In the classroom I now see students themselves gaining confidence as performers of their own material, as a direct result of the Fugitives events.”
Katherine Parrish - Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute, Toronto, Ontario
Bringing poets into the classroom is always a special treat, but when the poets are also gifted teachers, something powerful happens- the strengths they have are passed on to the students, and the students learn to see themselves as writers. This is what happened when Barbara Adler and Brendan McLeod came to visit my students. They pulled the poetry out of a group of young people who didn’t know they had it in them. Because of their warmth, enthusiasm, energy and skill, I would highly recommend Barbara and Brendan for any youth poetry event.
Silvia Knittel - Creative Writing Head, Langley Fine Arts School
"The Fugitives manage to stay highschool appropriate, yet edgy enough to keep students riveted...If you want your students to fall in love with language, invite this group to perform at your school. You will watch kids discover that poetry isn't boring; poetry is passion, and these poets make it drop-dead exciting."
Writers-Craft Student, after a Fugitives show - St. Clement's Academy, Toronto
"Ok, so maybe I don’t hate all poetry. But I just like the stuff that’s performed…with music…and a melodica. Thanks for coming!" Bridget