If one of the great joys of poetry is reading articulations of previously mercurial sensations, then hearing poets talk about their refinement of such ideas is surely another. Mercedes Eng (cop city swagger), Holly Flauto (Permission to Settle), Rhea Tregebov (Talking to Strangers), shō yamagushiku (shima) share varied works that grapple with who we are—in our histories, our sense of self, our identity, and our relationships to others. Ranging from implicit bias in the immigration system to the mysteries of ordinary life, to interrogating the past through familial relationships, to a threat assessment of the police, these poets demonstrate how poetry reflects our society and our souls… one breathtaking clause at a time. Moderated by Bronwen Tate.
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MERCEDES ENG is a prairie-born poet of Chinese and settler descent living in Vancouver on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and səl̓ilwətaɁɬ. She is the author of my yt mama, Prison Industrial Complex Explodes (winner of the 2018 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize) and Mercenary English. Mercedes was recently the Ellen and Warren Tallman Writer-in-Residence and a Shadbolt Fellow at Simon Fraser University. She is an assistant professor at Emily Carr University of Art + Design, where she organizes the On Edge reading series.
HOLLY FLAUTO is a poet, storyteller, writer and learner. Their writing has previously been published in The ex-Puritan, Joyland, and The Rusty Toque. They teach English and Creative Writing at Capilano University. Originally from the US, Holly currently lives in Vancouver, BC.
BRONWEN TATE is the author of the poetry collection The Silk the Moths Ignore. She is Associate Professor of Teaching and Undergraduate Chair in the School of Creative Writing at UBC in Vancouver, where she offers courses in poetry, creative nonfiction, and literary translation. In collaboration with colleague John Vigna, Bronwen is co-writing a book about teaching creative writing, under contract with Bloomsbury Academic. Her Substack newsletter Ok, But How? features author interviews and nitty-gritty process-nerd notes on writing, reading, and teaching.
RHEA TREGEBOV is the author of seven acclaimed books of poetry and two novels, The Knife Sharpener’s Bell and Rue des Rosiers. Her work has received the J. I. Segal Award, the Nancy Richler Memorial Prize for Fiction, the Malahat Review Long Poem Prize, the Pat Lowther Award, and the Prairie Schooner Readers’ Choice Award. Retired from teaching at UBC, she now holds the position of Associate Professor Emerita and is the former Chair of The Writers Union of Canada. She lives in Vancouver.
shō yamagushiku's work is grounded in a diasporic okinawan consciousness. He writes from the homelands of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples (Victoria, BC). His first poetry collection, entitled shima, reflects ancestors, violence, and tradition.
