Atmospheric and vivacious, the Poetry Bash is one of our most beloved returning events at the Vancouver Writers Fest. We’re thrilled to bring the magic to this springtime edition featuring four exciting Canadian poets, curated by poet and KPU Creative Writing instructor Billeh Nickerson.
Farah Ghafoor’s Shadow Price is a stunning debut collection that asks what gives life value, in a world that burns under our capitalist lens. In Stages of Tanning Words and Remembering Spells: Part 1: Scraping Lungs Like Hide, Tawahum Bige explores how voice emerges for a young Two Spirit growing up in so-called “Surrey, BC,” far from his Łutselk’e Dene territories. In Your Nature by Estlin McPhee is a lyrical debut that shows us a world in which precedent for gender transition is everywhere—if you know how to look. And in her tenth volume of poetry, Parade of Storms, Evelyn Lau turns her focus on the weather: storms, floods, wildfires, and the other effects of intensifying climate change.
These evocative poems capture the power of poetry to address questions both political and personal. Join us for readings, a panel conversation, book sales and signings, and an evening of connecting with poets and poetry lovers.
We do our best to make our events low-barrier, accessible experiences for our community. A limited number of accessibly priced tickets are available for purchase. To discuss other ways we can make these events more accessible to you, please reach out to us at boxoffice@writersfest.bc.ca or 604-681-6330.
About Books & Ideas
Launched in January 2025, Books & Ideas is a new event series from the Vancouver Writers Fest on Granville Island, home of the Writers Fest’s celebrated annual literary festival. With an intimate theatre venue and a pop-up bar for socializing, attendees are invited to connect more deeply with other members of the local literary community—and meet the esteemed authors who grace the stage—in a modern space for exchanging ideas.
Participants and Speakers
Tawahum Bige
TAWAHUM BIGE is a Łutselk’e Dene, Plains Cree poet. Their Scorpio-moon-ass poems expose growth, resistance and persistence as a hopeless Two Spirit Nonbinary sadboy on occupied Turtle Island. With a B.A. in creative writing from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Bige has performed at countless festivals and had poems featured in numerous publications. His land protection work against the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion led him to face incarceration in 2020. Bige’s debut poetry collection, Cut to Fortress, was published by Nightwood Editions in 2022. They reside on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territory (Vancouver, BC).
Billeh Nickerson
BILLEH NICKERSON is the author of six previous books, including Artificial Cherry, which was nominated for the City of Vancouver Book Award. He is a past editor of both Event and Prism International, and co-editor of the groundbreaking anthology Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay Male Poets. His latest book is Duct-Taped Roses. He lives and works in Vancouver where he is a Creative Writing instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. (BRITISH COLUMBIA)
Evelyn Lau
EVELYN LAU is a lifelong Vancouverite who has authored fourteen books, including nine volumes of poetry. Her memoir Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid (HarperCollins, 1989), published when she was eighteen, was made into a CBC movie starring Sandra Oh in her first major role. Evelyn’s prose books have been translated into a dozen languages; her poetry has received the Milton Acorn People’s Poet Award, the Pat Lowther Award for best book of poetry by a Canadian woman, and a National Magazine Award, as well as nominations for a BC Book Prize and the Governor-General’s Award. Her poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies, including the Best Canadian Poetry series. From 2011-2014, Evelyn served as Poet Laureate for the City of Vancouver.
Estlin McPhee
ESTLIN MCPHEE is a writer and librarian who lives on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples. They hold an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia and are the author of the poetry chapbook Shapeshifters (Rahila’s Ghost Press, 2018). Estlin’s writing has appeared in journals across North America; their poem “Lupo Mannaro” was named the Poetry Gold Winner in Alberta’s 2020 Magazine Awards. For many years, they co-organized REVERB, a queer reading series in Vancouver. In Your Nature is Estlin’s debut poetry collection.
Farah Ghafoor
FARAH GHAFOOR is an award-winning poet living on the traditional territory of the Anishnabeg, the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. Her work was awarded the E.J. Pratt Medal and Prize in Poetry, longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize, is taught in university courses, and published in The Walrus, the Fiddlehead, Room, and elsewhere. Raised in New Brunswick and southern Ontario, Ghafoor now works in Tkaronto (Toronto) as a financial analyst.