HAPPY BIRTHDAY PLANET EARTH POETRY!
In September 2025, we turn 30!
Planet Earth Poetry is an 30-year-old weekly reading series celebrating poets and poetry. Our season runs from September—June (with a break in December) featuring local poets and poets from across Canada.
OPEN MIC
We host the LONGEST RUNNING all-poetry open mic in Victoria—since 1995! Please learn more about our sign-up procedure and open mic rules HERE
WEEKLY EVENTS
OUR WEEKLY in-person events take place at Russell Books: 747 Fort Street in downtown Victoria
Doors at 7:00pm, event at 7:30pm, sign up for the open mic in person between 7:00–7:20
WEEKLY LIVESTREAM
Unless otherwise noted, in person events will be livestreamed HERE (Meeting ID: 494 660 4447 /Passcode: 2129)
**livestream begins at approx. 8:00–8:15pm with featured readings**
MONTHLY AFTERNOON READINGS
Our monthly in-person readings take place at New Horizons Center: 234 Menzies St, Victoria, BC V8V 2G7
Doors at 1:30pm, event at 2:00pm, sign up for the open mic in person between 1:30–1:50pm
MONTHLY COMMUNITY MINI-WORKSHOPS (online!)
Each month a guest poet offers an hour-long prompt-based generative writing session.
Join the Mini-Workshop HERE (Meeting ID: 494 660 4447 /Passcode: 2129)
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter or follow us on social media—this is where we’ll post our upcoming Mini-Workshops.
MASTERCLASSES
We traditionally offer two Masterclasses with exceptional poets each season.
Each Masterclass offers two Indigenous bursaries and four sliding-scale seats, as well as full-priced seats.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter or follow us on social media—this is where we’ll post our upcoming Masterclasses.
YOUTUBE ARCHIVE
Several years of past events are available to watch on YouTube HERE
Poets include: George Elliot Clarke, Lorna Crozier, Conor Kerr, Lorri Neilsen Glenn, Phil Hall, Steven Ross Smith, Cecily Nicholson, Tolu Oloruntoba, Eve Joseph, Tim Lilburn, Arleen Paré, Bren Simmers, Kayla Czaga, Shane Book, and many, many more…
PAST READINGS
For 30 years, we’ve welcomed beloved poets from across Canada. We’ve watched writers grow over many seasons, offered first readings to emerging voices, and helped launch hundreds of books. We’ve celebrated poets who went on to win awards soon after reading with us, and we’ve mourned those who’ve passed—honouring their legacies by reading their work aloud at our open mic. We’re grateful to have created a space where so many brilliant voices have been heard and celebrated.
Browse through the archives to read about our featured poets all the way back to 2013: HERE
SUPPORT POETRY!
If you enjoy what we offer, or if you simply enjoy supporting poetry, please consider a monthly or one-time donation.
We are a charitable society and all donations contribute to paying our Featured Poets, and to our operating costs.
Please make your tax deductible donations HERE
or if you’d like to sponsor a poet in our forthcoming season, find out more HERE
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
After: A Canadian Anthology of Response Poems
to be published by Caitlin Press
We’re presently calling for poems written in response to the featured readers of Season 29!
LEARN MORE about the anthology HERE and submit to this nation-wide conversation!
POET’S CARAVAN
Poets Caravan is a professionally filmed poetry project by Planet Earth Poetry highlighting the rich cultural landscape of Southern Vancouver Island.
Each poet is represented by a pin on Google Earth–somewhere they like to write or a place they find particularly inspiring.
Visit the Poet’s Caravan Page HERE
or
GO TO GOOGLE EARTH & WATCH OUR POETS
FEATURED POET INTERVIEWS
Planet Earth Poetry’s Interviews shine the spotlight on our featured poets and their new collections.
This new initiative aims to pair interviewers with poets wherever possible.
Read the interviews HERE
unpacking the poem
From 2022-2024, poet and reviewer Wendy Donawa “unpacked” a different regional poem every month.
Wendy examines the poem in a way she hopes is helpful for readers and other poets to understand how craft works in a particular poem, for a particular effect.
These are excellent mini-essays on poetic craft—please visit Wendy’s work HERE
SEASON 30: Sept 2025 - June 2026… COMING SOON!
Stay tuned for more information about our 30th Birthday Season!
Expect celebration, expect parties, expect poetry!
Planet Earth Poetry acknowledges with respect and gratitude that we read and write uninvited on the homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən. The lək̓ʷəŋən are also known as the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations and they speak the language lek̓ʷəŋiʔnəŋ. Planet Earth Poetry is committed to making space for the voices of Indigenous poets to be heard on this land.