I’ve never been a broken human. #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove #peomoftheday #writing #grief
Join us and @planetearthpoetry for Friday night poetry! Featured Poets: Hollay Ghadery is a multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph. Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/ Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023. Widow Fantasies, her collection of short fiction, is forthcoming with Gordon Hill in fall 2024. Hollay is the host of the 105.5 HITS FM Bookclub, as well as HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Rhea Tregebov is the author of eight collections of poetry, two novels and five children’s picture books. She has edited numerous anthologies as well. Tregebov lives and writes in Vancouver, where she is Associate Professor Emerita at the School of Creative Writing at UBC. Her latest collection is Talking to Strangers (Vehicule). ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. Our open mic rules are: 1. Poetry only 2. Maximum of one poem 3. Maximum of 3 minutes on the mic Www.planetearthpoetry.com for more info #yyjevents #yyjevent #planetearthpoetry #yyj #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #russellbooks
I’m at it again. #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove
let this mess be here #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove
we’re barely surviving #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove
'i, nemophile' is part of the 2024 @greatervictoriapublib GVPL's Emerging Local Authors Collection! Feel free to join me and lots of cool people for the collection launch at the Central Branch in downtown Victoria this Saturday, May 11, at 11 a.m. :) #yyjpoetry #gvpl #inemophile #sookewrites #sooke
Join us for Friday night poetry with @planetearthpoetry Featured Poets: A recipient of the BC Medal of Good Citizenship, Donna Kane is the author of the non-fiction book Summer of the Horse and four books of poetry including Orrery, a finalist for the 2020 Governor General’s Literary Award. Her most recent poetry book is Asterisms (Harbour, 2024). Matt Rader is an award-winning author of six volumes of poetry, a collection of stories and a book of nonfiction. His previous book of poems, Ghosthawk, was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. He teaches Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia Okanagan and lives in Kelowna, BC. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. Our open mic rules are: 1. Poetry only 2. Maximum of one poem 3. Maximum of 3 minutes on the mic If you wish to tune in via Zoom for the featured reader segment of the evening (approximately 8:00-9:00pm Pacific time), please use the following credentials: Meeting ID: 494 660 4447 Passcode: 2129 You may also access this segment of the event via landline for audio only. Dial +1 778 907 2071. #yyjevents #yyjevent #yyjpoetry #planetearthpoetry #yyjpoet
I am every walk I’ve ever taken #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove #emergence
What a shame she went mad. #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove
stars by the pocketful #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove
Who could ever leave me darling; who could stay? #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove
This is me trying. #poem #poems #newpoetry #newpoet #torturedpoetsdepartment #torturedpoet #mentalhealthpoetry #writing #yyjpoetry #victoriabcpoetry #poetrylovers #poetry #poetrygram #poetryofinstagram #poetryisnotdead #poetryislife #poetryislove
Join us and @planetearthpoetry for Friday night poetry April 26th! Featured Poets: Keith Garebian is the author of groundbreaking books of non-fiction and poetry. He has won the William Saroyan Medal (Armenia), and numerous other awards for writing, and his poetry has been translated into French, Romanian, Bulgarian, Hebrew, Armenian, and Hungarian. Three-Way Renegade is his 11th poetry collection. Pamela Porter is the author of fourteen published books across multiple genres including poetry, novels in free verse, and books for young adults and children. Her work has garnered numerous awards, including the Governor General’s Award, and first prizes from the Canadian Author’s Association, the Gwendolyn MacEwen Prize, and others. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. #yyjevents #yyjevent #yyj #yyjpoetry #russellbooks
This Thursday I will be performing with this talented group of BIPOCS @fodvictoria. I will be reading existing poems and new ones as my set. Show up and gotta make a reservation. There’s a contact number at the bottom of this epic poster! #dragshow #dragshows #yyjevents #yyjpoetry #yyj
Join us and @planetearthpoetry for Friday night poetry! Please note, in addition to the evening reading Jess will also be reading at New Horizons Centre in James Bay at 2pm on April 19. See the PEP website (www.planetearthpoetry.com) for more details. Featured Poet: Jess Housty (‘Cúagilákv) is a parent, writer and grassroots activist with Heiltsuk and mixed settler ancestry. They serve their community as an herbalist and land-based educator alongside broader work in the non-profit and philanthropic sectors. They are inspired and guided by relationships with their homelands, their extended family and their non-human kin, and they are committed to raising their children in a similar framework of kinship and land love. They reside and thrive in their unceded ancestral territory in the community of Bella Bella, BC. Poetic Opener: Simone Littledale Escobar is a poet, multidisciplinary artist, and educator living on unceded Lək̓wəŋən territory. Her work explores ecological grief, ties to place, the natural world, and personal history; and draws strongly from both her Colombian/Canadian heritage and her upbringing on the Pacific coast. Simone’s work has been published in The Malahat Review, Prairie Fire, and The New Quarterly, and translated into Spanish. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. #yyjpoetry #yyjevents #yyj #russellbooks #planetearthpoetry
Join us for @planetearthpoetry this Friday evening featuring David Stymeist and Torsten Schoeneberg. Featured Poet: Recently published with Frontenac House, Cluster Flux is D.S. Stymeist’s newest collection of poetry. His well-received debut, The Bone Weir, was a finalist for the Canadian Author’s Association Poetry Award. Alongside living with the disabling effects of chronic disease (Crohn’s), he currently teaches creative writing at Carleton University. Poetic Opener: Born and raised in Germany, Torsten Schoeneberg published short stories there before immigrating to Victoria in 2016, where he has published poems in local publications such as Oratorealis. His current work in progress includes reviews of fictional books. His (real) book “Brenda Craigdarroch Doesn’t Care If You Read This Book” was published in late 2020. The collection of 21 prose poems around the quirky character Brenda has gained a cult following. His writing combines trends of current European literature with a distinct Canadian West Coast feel. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. Our open mic rules are: 1. Poetry only 2. Maximum of one poem 3. Maximum of 3 minutes on the mic If you wish to tune in via Zoom for the featured reader segment of the evening (approximately 8:00-9:00pm Pacific time), please use the following credentials: Meeting ID: 494 660 4447 Passcode: 2129 #yyjevents #yyjevent #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #russellbooks
Come witness tomorrow’s best poets today at Victorious Voices Semi-Finals & FINALS! 8 teams of 4-6 poets compete on April 9th to see who qualifies for Victorious Voices FINALS on April 10th! Team slams combine high intensity solo poems and wildly creative “team pieces” to determine which team wins the competition. At Victorious Voices FINALS on April 10th, the top four teams return for one last poetic showdown to determine the 2024 Victorious Voices Champion!! Before the poetry gets slamming, you’ll get to enjoy performances from Winnipeg Poet Laureate Chimwemwe Undi, as well as Shauntelle Dick-Charleson, the 2024 Alumni of Honour Victorious Voices Semi-Finals & FINALS feat. Chimwemwe Undi April 9th & 10th Doors: 6:15 PM | Show: 7 PM Youth: $5 | Adult (Semi-Finals): $10 & Adult (FINALS): $15 | No one turned away for lack of funds at the door All Ages 🎟️ LINK IN BIO #poetry #poetryslam #poetryfestival #poetryperformance #poetlaureate #teampoetry #yyjpoetry #victoriabc #vancouverisland #downtownvictoria #yyjevents #victoriaeventcentre
✨ Find grace somewhere. Words from limbo and an inspiring @jessjanz workshop recording.
Thank you so much to Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry and the Malahat Review @malahatreview for helping us ring in Poetry Month in style! What a treat to hear from poets who have been published in the Malahat Review throughout its venerable history as one of Canada’s top literary magazines. #yyjevents #yyjevent #russellbooks #planetearthpoetry #malahatreview #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet
Zoe here again with another recommendation for Poetry Month! This time I’m going with an amazing local poet, Kyeren Regehr. Kyeren Regehr @byallmeanswrite is an award-winning poet and current Artistic Director of Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry. She is working with our events team to organize a series of readings and open mics to celebrate Poetry Month here at Russell’s, the first of which will be tonight. (Check out the Planet Earth Poetry website for more info!) I want to highlight Kyeren’s book because I love her wry and relatable portrayal of humanity in search of enlightenment... And because Kyeren spends so much time lifting up other poets and promoting poetry in Victoria, I think she deserves a little time in the spotlight herself! #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #planetearthpoetry #yyjevents #russellbooks
This Friday! Come celebrate National Poetry Month with us and @planetearthpoetry at @russellbooksvictoria at 7:30pm. Hosted by our Editor Iain Higgins and featuring John Barton, @yvonneblomer, Warren Heiti, and Philip Kevin Paul. Bring cash to buy issues and/or a subscription! Have you had poetry published in The Malahat Review? The open mic before the reading is reserved for poets published in any issue of the journal. Link in bio to read more.
Join us in hosting Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry for Friday night poetry! This week featuring The Malahat Review: National Poetry Month Reading (Quadruple Bill!) Featured Poets: Philip Kevin Paul is a member of the WSÁ,NEC Nation from the Saanich Peninsula on Vancouver Island. His work has been published in BC Studies, Literary Review of Canada, Breathing Fire: Canada’s New Poets and An Anthology of Canadian Native Literature in English. Paul has worked with the University of Victoria’s linguistics department to ensure the preservation of the SENCOTEN language. Warren Heiti is the author of Hydrologos (Pedlar Press, 2011), Attending (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021), and Diaphora (forthcoming), and co-editor of Chamber Music: The Poetry of Jan Zwicky (Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2015). He lives in Nanaimo on the land of the Snuneymuxw Nation, and teaches philosophy and literature at Vancouver Island University. John Barton’s collections and chapbooks of poetry include Hymn, For the Boy with the Eyes of the Virgin, Polari, and Lost Family (2021 Derek Walcott Prize nominee). His other books include We Are Not Avatars: Essays, Memoirs, Manifestos and The Essential Douglas LePan (2020 eLit Award winner). A past editor of The Malahat Review, he was Victoria’s fifth poet laureate. Yvonne Blomer is a past poet laureate of Victoria, BC and the 2022-2023 Arc poetry magazines poet-in-residence. She creates and teaches poetry classes to a deeply engaged group of poets on Zoom and lives on the territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Lekwungen) speaking people. Her sixth book of poetry, “Death of Persephone: A Murder” is forthcoming in the fall of 2024 and she is currently accepting poems on the theme of ice for a third water-based poetry anthology, details here: https://caitlinpress.com/Blog/Call-for-Submissions-ICE ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. #yyjevents #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #russellbooks #planetearthpoetry
On Wednesday, April 3rd, we’ll kick off National Poetry Month by launching two new collections: Deviant, by award-winning poet, @thepoetpatrick (confessional poetry that explores LGBTQ relationships, identity, and coming of age) and The Weight of Survival, by Nanaimo’s former poet laureate, @biellotina (poetry that explores otherness from an immigrant and queer perspective). Here's Doug, our poetry person and Susan, our events person, reading a poem from Tina Biello’s and Patrick Grace’s collections, respectively. See you at the store on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (doors at 6:30)! #NationalPoetryMonth #yyj #yyjEvents #yyjBooks #yyjBookstore #yyjPoets #yyjPoetry #yyjArts #IndieBooks #IndieBookstore
Join us in collaboration with @planetearthpoetry on Friday April 5th at 7:30pm @russellbooksvictoria! Hosted by our Editor Iain Higgins and featuring John Barton, @yvonneblomer, Warren Heiti, and Philip Kevin Paul. Have you had poetry published in The Malahat Review? The open mic before the reading is reserved for poets published in any issue of the journal.
Join Planet Earth Poetry at Russell Books Friday March 15th at 7:30pm (doors open at 7:00) for a special reading with icehouse poet Kazim Ali (author of Sukun) along with Garth Martens. Sukun (Arabic for stillness or rest, as well as being a diacritic that indicates there is no vowel to pronounce following a consonant) draws from a generous selection from Ali’s six full-length collections. This remarkable volume also includes 25 astonishing new poems and an afterword by the poet. Together, they allow us to trace Ali’s passions and concerns and to take the measure of his art: the close attention to the spiritual and the visceral, and the deep language play that is at once musical and plain spoken. About the Author: Born in the UK and raised in Canada, Kazim Ali is a Queer, Muslim writer who is currently professor and chair of the Department of Literature at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of 25 books of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and translations, as well as the editor of five collected volumes. In 2004, he co-founded the small press Nightboat Books and served as its first publisher, and he continues to edit books with the press. Ali is also a certified yoga instructor, teaching yoga and training yoga teachers in Ramallah, Palestine for many years. Garth Martens is author of Prologue for the Age of Consequence (Anansi) and Remediation (JackPine). He is winner of the Bronwen Wallace Award and finalist for a Governor General’s Literary Award in Poetry. He is producer and poet for Palabra Flamenco, an ensemble that joins poetry with flamenco music and dance. He also produces and performs in Dark Sounds, a literary flamenco series on death, grief, and the climate crisis, featuring poet Jan Zwicky. He lives in Victoria, British Columbia. @goose_lane @planetearthpoetry #russellbooks #planetearthpoetry #shoplocalyyj #yyj #victoriabc #yyjevents #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet
Join us for Friday night poetry with @planetearthpoetry in celebration of International Women’s Day March 8th. Doors 7pm, event at 7:30 pm. Featured Poets: Délani Valin Wendy Donawa Hosted by: Marie Metaphor Specht All-Women Open Mic, featuring Luna Piscetta @lunastygram. Planetearthpoetry.com for more info #yyjevents #yyjevent #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #russellbooks
Join us for another evening with Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry this Friday! Featured Poet: Ronna Bloom is the author of seven poetry collections. Her poems have been recorded by the CNIB, used in health care, and translated into Bangla, Chinese and Spanish. Her most recent book is A Possible Trust: The Poetry of Ronna Bloom, selected with an introduction by Phil Hall (Wilfred Laurier University Press, 2023.) Poetic Opener: Christina Shah lives in Vancouver and works in heavy industry, where she drinks from the firehose of knowledge. Her poetry has appeared numerous Canadian literary journals, including The Fiddlehead, Vallum, Arc, Grain, PRISM international, EVENT, The Malahat Review, The Antigonish Review. She is one-fifth of the Harbour Centre 5 poetry collective, whose chapbook, Brine, was released in 2022. Her first videopoem, ‘rig veda’ (in collaboration with videographer Mark Mushet), was translated into Spanish and screened at the 2023 Cinemística festival in Granada, Spain, and the 2023 Versi Di Luce festival in Modica, Sicily. rig veda, her first solo chapbook (Anstruther Press), was released in 2023. She has some strong opinions on soft pretzels. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. Our open mic rules are: 1. Poetry only 2. Maximum of one poem 3. Maximum of 3 minutes on the mic #yyjevents #yyjevent #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #downtownyyj #planetearthpoetry
A very very wet drop-off of books (which stayed dry) at @bolenbooks in Victoria! #shoplocal #sookewrites #sooke #yyj #itwasarainynight #inemophile #yyjpoetry
I'm extremely excited that 'i, nemophile' is available in the Poetry section of @russellbooksvictoria now 🥲😍💚 Thank you Russell Books! Words cannot express my love for local indie bookstores. #indiebookstore #yyj #yyjpoetry #localreads #sookewrites #sooke
A witchy Leo ~Me, Payton. #poetry #writing #poetrywriting #poetrycommunity #yyjpoetry #poetryyyj #yyj #youthpoet #litterature #astrology #leo #sun #moon
This Friday Feb 16th join us for @planetearthpoetry featuring Sneha Madhavan-Reese & Joanna Lilley. 7:30pm . Open mic sign-up in person 7-7:15pm. Sneha Madhavan-Reese is the author of two poetry collections, Observing the Moon and Elementary Particles. Her writing has appeared in publications around the world, including The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2016. She serves on the editorial board of Canthius magazine and lives with her family in Ottawa. Joanna Lilley is the author of Endlings, a collection of poems about extinct animals which won the Fred Kerner Book Award in 2021. She’s also the author of the poetry collections If There Were Roads and The Fleece Era, which was nominated for the Fred Cogswell Award, the novel Worry Stones, which was longlisted for the Caledonia Novel Award, and the short story collection, The Birthday Books. #planetearthpoetry #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #russellbooks #yyjevents
A few of the participants in yesterday's "How to Love Poetry" workshop with improvisational poet Dave Morris. . #yyjpoetry #westshoreartscouncil
We are looking forward to another evening with Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry this Friday! Featured Poet: Ali Blythe is author of a trilogy of critically acclaimed poetry collections that explore trans-poetics. He is winner of the Vallum Award for Poetry, twice finalist for the Dorothy Livesay BC Book Award and recipient of an honour of distinction from the Writers Trust of Canada for emerging LGBTQ+ writers. Blythe’s poems and essays are published in national and international literary journals and anthologies, including The Broadview Introduction to Literature, Best Canadian Essays and Best Canadian Poetry. Breaking open John Keats’s “Last Sonnet,” Ali Blythe writes marginality into the canon, at once claiming, reviving, and un-fixing the Romantic vision. Taking place over one night, the poet in bed next to a sleeping lover, Blythe’s revelatory poems struggle with questions of illusion and reality, immersion and escapism, that which endures and that which is transient. Poetic Opener: Shawnda Wilson is a visual artist, poet, and writer of fiction. She has won awards such as the Mary Garland Coleman award for lyric poetry, the Bill Juby award, long listed for the Bridge Prize, Quagmire Magazine Poetry 2nd prize among others. Her work has been published in various magazines and chapbooks since 2001. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. Our open mic rules are: 1. Poetry only 2. Maximum of one poem 3. Maximum of 3 minutes on the mic If you wish to tune in via Zoom for the featured reader segment of the evening (approximately 8:00-9:00pm Pacific time), please use the following credentials: Meeting ID: 494 660 4447 Passcode: 2129 You may also access this segment of the event via landline for audio only. Dial +1 778 907 2071. https://facebook.com/events/s/planet-earth-poetry-ali-blythe/224659564048144/ #yyjevents #planetearthpoetry #downtownyyj #victoriabc #yyj #yyjpoetry #russellbooks
POETRY WRITING WORKSHOP . Saturday, February 10th, 2024. 9-11 am. . We are holding a poetry writing workshop in conjunction with our first exhibition of the new year, called The Look of Love: Art as a Love Language. See our website to sign up or for more details. . #westshoreartscouncil #yyjpoetry #victoriapoet
Join Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry at Russell Books this Friday Feb 2nd for another wonderful evening of poetry. Featured poet: D.C. Reid with Poetic Opener: Chris Bullock Featured Poet: DC Reid’s 16th book recently won the Professional Outdoor Writers Association of Canada’s gold medal for books, his 25 th award. His 17 th book, Poems Selected and New has just come out from Ekstasis, summarizing his 8 previous books of poems and adding new poems from his next book, Canada a Country of Poets. Way back, at the Banff Centre, Reid explored prairie realism with WO Mitchell’s ‘messy method’ for prose until Eli Mandel circled a patch and told him it was poetry. He asked Reid to write it in short lines, then ‘made’ Reid submit it to the Bliss Carman Award. To Reid’s surprise, it took the silver medal – his first ever poem, his first ever submission. And his writing life took a completely new direction. Twenty-five awards later, Poems Selected & New (Ekstasis Editions), summarizes Reid’s eight books of poems, and contains poems from his following, 10th book, Canada a Country of Poets. Poetic Opener: Chris Bullock reads his poems to his hiking buddies round campfires in the Utah wilderness. His poetry collection, How the Light Gets In, appeared in November 2023, and explores moments of revelation involving deserts, dancing classes, crosswords, grandchildren, and many other topics. Chris lives in Victoria, where he coordinates the Poetry and Song circle at the Church of Truth, and dialogues on favourite poems with the cross-province group, Poetry and the Boyz. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. Planetearthpoetry.com for more info #yyjevents #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #russellbooks #planetearthpoetry
Planning a reading feels different every time. Same book, same poems, but different ones stand out to me as the ones for a given occasion. With room built in for some last-minute flexibility based on the vibe. Tomorrow night, @planetearthpoetry @russellbooksvictoria - hope to see you there! #sookewrites #yyjpoetry #poetryreading
Join us for Friday night poetry with @planetearthpoetry! This week the feature poet is Nicolas Bradley with poetic opener Allie Picketts. Nicolas Bradley is the author of two books of poetry: Rain Shadow (University of Alberta Press, 2018) and Before Combustion (Gaspereau Press, 2023). His poems have appeared in a number of journals and anthologies, including Best Canadian Poetry 2024. He lives in Victoria, BC – in lək̓ʷəŋən territory. The routines of work, chores, and parenthood can both define and disquiet us. As the steady stream of anxieties and distractions sets the day-to-day human world adrift, what meaningful relationship remains possible with the natural world? In Before Combustion, Nicholas Bradley writes of the challenges of living with attentiveness and curiosity in a time of atmospheric rivers and forest fires, and of the struggle to reconnect our domestic worlds to greater cycles of place and time. Allie Picketts is a poet, musician, editor, parent, and teacher who is happiest in the woods. She is thankful to live and write in T’Sou-ke territory on Vancouver Island. Her first poetry collection ‘i, nemophile’ was released in November 2023. Find Allie at www.alliepickettswrites.com ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. If you wish to tune in via Zoom for the featured reader segment of the evening (approximately 8:00-9:00pm Pacific time), please use the following credentials: Meeting ID: 494 660 4447 Passcode: 2129 You may also access this segment of the event via landline for audio only. Dial +1 778 907 2071. #yyjevents #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #russellbooks #planetearthpoetry
january 2024 #journalbonesz #barebonesz #writing #poetry #liquidpoetry #yyj #queerart #poem #wordflow #yyjwriters #yyjpoetry #cascadia #sunrise #goldenhour
It has been brought to my attention (just by various people asking) that I haven't been very good at explaining how to procure my book! It's not in any bookstores at this point, though that may happen in the next few months - the second print run has been put in motion! And I will keep you posted about that. But in the meantime. How to get it (3 ways): - email me ([email protected]) or send me a DM of some sort. Then I can mail it to you if you are far away, or we'll figure out a way for me to get it to you if you're local (etransfer, cash, or cheque) - buy it at the lovely @sookemuseuminfocentre gift shop - come to the @planetearthpoetry event next Friday 26 January at @russellbooksvictoria at 7:30 p.m., where I will be the poetic opener and have a chance to sell my book Thank you for all your support! I didn't think I'd be doing a second printing so soon after the first, and I'm humbled and grateful and happy! #sooke #sookewrites #sookereads #inemophile #nemophile #poetry #yyjpoetry #naturepoetry
Join us for another night poetry with Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry this Friday. Featured Poet: Cathy Stonehouse @cathy.stonehouse is a poet, writer and visual artist who lives in East Vancouver on the unceded traditional territories of the Tseil-Waututh, Squamish and Musqueam First Nations. They currently teach Creative Writing at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Dream House, their third collection of poetry, is a long poem in six sections. It investigates female embodiment by calling up such liminal spaces as the pregnant body, the aging mind, and the recently-vacated family home. A wry, surreal and many-peopled narrative, Dream House interrogates what metaphor might hold of history, both personal and social, after a mother’s passing, while tracing a matrilineal path between alienation and belonging. “This is a deeply affecting collection you will not want to miss—and will certainly not forget.” (Elizabeth Bachinsky). Poetic Opener: Zoe Dickinson @zoe.ida.dickinson is a poet and bookseller from Victoria, BC. She has been published in literary journals such as Existere, Prairie Fire, and Contemporary Verse 2. Her first chapbook, Public Transit, was published in 2015 by Leaf Press, and her second chapbook, intertidal: poems from the littoral zone, is the 2022 winner of the Raven Chapbook competition. She is a manager at Russell Books (❤️❤️❤️) and Artistic Director emerita of the Planet Earth Poetry Reading Series. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. Our open mic rules are: 1. Poetry only 2. Maximum of one poem 3. Maximum of 3 minutes on the mic If you wish to tune in via Zoom for the featured reader segment of the evening (approximately 8:00-9:00pm Pacific time), please use the following credentials: Meeting ID: 494 660 4447 Passcode: 2129 You may also access this segment of the event via landline for audio only. Dial +1 778 907 2071. #russellbooks #shoplocalyyj #yyj #planetearthpoetry #yyjpoetry
Poetry Reading with current and past Laureate winners, thank you @cityofvictoria and the Greater Victoria Public Library for hosting next weekend’s event 🎀🎀🌸 Love Poems From An Aching World 🌎 Sold out show, we are ready for next week even if it snows ❄️❄️ @planetearthpoetry @judy_woo_art #yyj #poem #meltshotbrownie #yyjpoetry #yyjartist
See you tomorrow, fellow nemophiles! Poetry book launch at the Sooke Library, 10:30 a.m. photo credit @applestarphoto #sookewrites #sookereads #booklaunch #nemophile #forest #poetry #sooke #woodlands #yyj #yyjpoetry
Hi Sooke: my local poetry book launch is only two days away! Here's me with all my books when I got them almost two months ago. A good chunk of them are in new homes by now, but I'm still that excited for the rest of them to be read and hopefully loved! With help from the talented @dkevewriter I wrote a stellar news release which the paper didn't print, so word of mouth and the internet are all I've got now for publicity! Please share widely with folks who love forests and/or poems, and I hope to see many of you kindred spirits at the Sooke Branch of the @vilibrary this Sunday at 10:30 💖 #sookewrites #sooke #sookereads #yyjpoetry #booklaunch #nemophile #poetry
Join us in the welcoming back Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry for the New Year! THIS FRIDAY January 5th features three superb poets; Eve Joseph, Patricia Young, and Sharon McCartney all launching chapbooks with Baseline Press. 7:30pm start, doors at 7:00pm (sign up for the open mic in person!) #yyjevents #downtownyyj #yyjpoetry #russellbooks
I found myself on a poster at the library ☺️🙏 #inemophile #booklaunch #yyjpoetry #sooke #sookewrites
Poetry reading Jan 2024 for the @cityofvictoria, we are warming up the mic for some past Laureate winners and current — Marie Metaphor Specht! DM for more details! Free event, come and support your emerging BIPOC poet 🥕🥕 #yyjpoetry #yyj #laureate #poetrycommunity #poem @judy_woo_art
Next year I will be performing my first 3 minute poem, January 12th 2024 in collaboration with @mariemetaphor for the @cityofvictoria. Thank you for sharing space with community! #yyjpoetry #yyj #poetrycommunity #poems #poem
As always, our reading THIS SUNDAY will begin with an open mic!! Please bring one poem or one page of prose to share with us! The open mic will be started off by Sophie Crocker @goblinpuck, reading her poem that was published in the Spring, 2021 issue of @malahatreview, "two rats living in a raccoon's corpse discuss structural brutalism" and some more poems from her debut poetry collection, Brat. Boy, Interrupted with Jason Jobin, Katłįà, and Jason Schreurs Sunday, December 3rd Doors at 6:30 p.m. Open Mic at 7:00 p.m. Featured readers at 7:30 p.m. at Paul Phillips Hall, 1923 Fernwood Rd. Admission $5 (CASH) Please bring CASH for admission and to purchase authors' books :) #yyj #yyjEvents #yyjArts #yyjBooks #yyjPoetry #yyjOpenMic #FernwoodOpenMic #FernwoodArts #LittleFernwood
Join Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry for their final event of the year featuring Lorna Crozier and Arleen Pare. Friday December 1st in-store. Doors open at 7:00, event starts at 7:30. #yyjevents #yyjevent #yyj #yyjpoetry #downtownyyj #planetearthpoetry #russellbooks
“intertidal: poems for the littoral zone” by local poet (and beloved Russell Books employee) Zoe Dickinson is back in stock. The collection, published by Raven Chapbooks is a stunning collection of breathtaking poems about the precious shoreline of the Pacific West Coast. Not only are these poems lyrically descriptive, but they are also scientifically accurate, knowledgeable and edifying. #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #planetearthpoetry #ravenchapbooks #russellbooks
Join @planetearthpoetry in-store on Friday for feature poet Barbara Pelman with poetic opener Karen Enns. Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30pm. #yyjevents #yyj #yyjpoetry #planetearthpoetry #shoplocalyyj #russellbooks
Join us this Friday 7:30 (doors at 7:00) for another wonderful evening with @planetearthpoetry this time in celebration of the launch of “Hologram: An homage to P.K. Page” #yyjevents #yyjpoetry #yyjevent #downtownyyj #planetearthpoetry #russellbooks
🍃 lessons from Mother Nature
Join @planetearthpoetry in-store again this Friday evening! Planetearthpoetry.com for more info #yyjevents #yyjpoetry #yyjpoet #russellbooks #downtownyyj #planetearthpoetry
Finish this sentence: hope is… . . Prompt and inspiration from the last workshop recording I watched by the remarkable @jessjanz
I've been a little spooked by how long it has taken for my book to be ready, but at last: there is a projected completion date of November 17. I'm looking forward to having it available at a few local #sooke markets and gift shops in time for winter holidays! Stay tuned. Samhain and Hallowe'en good wishes to all. Enjoy the beautiful darkness. #boo #poetrycollection #inemophile #nemophile #darkness #yyjpoetry #yyj
Join us this Friday for another wonderful evening with Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry This weeks feature poet is Darby Minott Bradford with poetic opener Joey Scarfone Planetearthpoetry.con for more info #yyjevents #yyjevent #yyjpoetry #russellbooks #downtownyyj
With one week to go until volume 7 of the Small Gods Storyteller Series, please meet our poet for the event - @elliesawatzky ! . For tickets, please visit the link in our bio! . . . . #literaryreading #breweryevents #smallgods #breweryreading #booksandbrews #literaryevents #ItsLit #yyjevents #yyjeats #yyjpoetry
Join Planet Earth Poetry for another evening of poetry this Friday! Featured Poet: Jen Currin’s most recent book is the poetry collection Trinity Street (House of Anansi, 2023). They have published five other books, including Hider/Seeker: Stories, which won a Canadian Independent Book Award, was a finalist for a ReLit Award, and was named a 2018 Globe and Mail Best Book; School (Coach House, 2014), which was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Award, the Dorothy Livesay Prize, and a ReLit Award; and The Inquisition Yours (Coach House, 2010), which won the 2011 Audre Lorde Award for Lesbian Poetry and was a finalist for a LAMBDA, the Dorothy Livesay Prize, and a ReLit Award. A white settler of mixed, mostly western European ancestry, Currin was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, on the traditional and ancestral territories of the Multnomah, Clackamas, Chinook, Tualatin, and other tribes. They currently live on unceded Qayqayt, Musqueam, Kwikwetlem, and Kwantlen Nation territories in New Westminster, BC and teach creative writing and English at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Poetic Opener: Meharoona Ghani, writer and poet published in many collections including Body & Soul (Caitlin Press), The Muslimah Who Fell to Earth (Mawenzi House Publishers), and a forthcoming anthology by the Federation of BC Writers as result of making their 2021 Literary Contest shortlist. Meharoona continues to write Letters to Rumi – her journey of identity and belonging; and contributes to the Spiritually Speaking column with the Victoria Times Colonist. Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. https://facebook.com/events/s/planet-earth-poetry-jen-currin/3507594266161132/ #yyjevents #yyj #downtownyyj #yyjpoetry #russellbooks #planetearthpoetry
Join Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry in-store this Friday October 20th at 7:30 pm (doors at 7:00) for Meghan Fandrich with Kurt Trzcinski. #planetearthpoetry #yyjevents #yyj #yyjpoetry #russellbooks
Join City of Victoria's Youth Poet Laureate Eva Haas at the free Cento Collage Workshop to create your own cento poetry by collaging lines from magazines, books and poems! All materials will be provided, including books, scissors, tape and glue. Drop in anytime between 3-5 p.m. - no poetry or artistic experience required! Visit ow.ly/y93650PTE2G to learn more and register. #yyj #victoriabc #yyjart #yyjarts #yyjpoetry #youthpoetlaureate #centocollage #poetryworkshop
I recently participated in and listened in on a writing workshop facilitated by the talented @jessjanz and this poem eventually came from the provided prompts: write about looking for a sign / write about inventing what you need for yourself. Buckle up, she’s a lengthy one. 🖤
Join Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry in-store Friday evening for Feature Poet D.A. Lockhart and Poetic Opener Catherine St. Denis Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. #yyjpoetry #yyjevents #russellbooks #downtownyyj
Tonight!!! Join me at @munrobooks for the launch of Hologram: An Homage to PK Page! We'll hear from the editors, @yvonneblomer and DC Reid as well as nine local poets who contributed to the book on their connection to PK and the poems they wrote in homage to her. (This will also be my debut as the MC for Munro's events!!) Doors: 6:30 p.m. Readings start at 7:00 Free admission and CAKE!!! at Munro's Books, 1108 Government St. in Victoria #PKPage #yyjPoets #yyjPoetry #yyjEvents #yyjArts #IndieBookstore #MunrosBooks
the Barbie movie made me do it.
Two literary events in Victoria tomorrow night to choose from: Launch of Skid Dogs, by @emeliasf at @caffe_fantastico in Quadra Village 7:00 p.m. Free admission I'll be there selling books on behalf of @munrobooks!! And @planetearthpoetry will present a Raven Chapbooks triple launch with Ian Thomas, Marlene Grand Maître, and Susan McCaslin 7:00 p.m at @russellbooksvictoria on Fort Street Free admission #yyj #yyjEvents #yyjBooks #yyjPoetry
Friday Night Planet Earth Poetry @planetearthpoetry at Russell Books! Join us to celebrate this year's group of Raven Chapbooks poets. Raven Chapbooks is an independent press located on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, founded by Diana Hayes. This family venture first began in the late 1990s as Rainbow Publishers. The press has now turned its focus to poetry chapbooks featuring emerging and established British Columbia poets. Featured Poets: Born in Vancouver, Ian Thomas is a biologist and poet with a lifelong passion for the ecosystems and wildlife of the BC coast. He currently works for the Ancient Forest Alliance, a non-profit that works to protect BC’s endangered old-growth forests. Green Islands is his first published book. Ian is 2023 the winner of the Raven Chapbooks contest. Marlene Grand Maître’s poetry chapbook Cancer’s Rogue Season was published in 2020 by Frog Hollow Press. Her work has also appeared in many literary journals, and in ten anthologies. She has won Freefall magazine’s poetry contest, and the Federation of BC Writers’ poetry competition. A poem was longlisted for Best Canadian Poetry 2011, and she has had a poem nominated for a National Magazine Award by Prairie Fire. Her poem “Vanishing Point” was chosen by the League of Canadian Poets for Poem in Your Pocket as part of National Poetry Month, 2022. Her work has also been published in the LCP’s 2022 chapbook anthology Leap. She is on the Board of the Planet Earth Poetry Reading Series Society in Victoria, BC. Susan McCaslin, who lives outside Fort Langley, taught English and Creative Writing at Douglas College for twenty-three years. She has published sixteen volumes of poems and has a new volume forthcoming in Sept. of this year titled Consider. ~~~ How to Attend: Doors open at 7:00pm, event starts at 7:30 and sign up for the open mic is between 7:00–7:20. #planetearthpoetry #ravenchapbooks #poetryyyj #yyjpoetry #yyjevents #russellbooks