In 2018, the Best Canadian Poetry series marks the start of its second decade, each anthology featuring the top 50 poems by Canadians published in print and online journals in a given year. This year’s edition, guest-edited by Hoa Nguyen, includes Dionne Brand, Canisia Lubrin, Shazia Hafiz Ramji and Christopher Tubbs, who, alongside series editor Anita Lahey, will discuss the ongoing evolution of Canadian poetry. In particular, this diverse combination of established and emerging writers will discuss how they use poetry to engage with the pressing issues of the world—and why verse can be such a uniquely precise art form for engagement in a radically different way. Poets and poetry lovers alike will revel in this afternoon of creative play.

Anita Lahey is a poet, journalist and essayist. She’s the author of two Véhicule Press poetry collections and The Mystery Shopping Cart: Essays on Poetry and Culture (Palimpsest, 2013).