Planet Earth Poetry is a 29-year-old weekly reading series celebrating poets and poetry. We hold in-person events every week from September—June (with a break in December) featuring local poets and poets from across Canada. We host the LONGEST RUNNING all-poetry open mic in Victoria!
Planet Earth Poetry is run entirely by volunteers (mostly poets). Please take a moment to scroll through the sections below BEFORE filling out the contact form—thank you for helping us reduce our inbox messages. (If you email questions that can be answered on this page, we will kindly direct you back to this page.)
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Please address all Planet Earth Poetry inquiries to the Artistic Director, Kyeren Regehr via the contact form on this page.
(Please send questions about Kyeren’s books and editing services via her website HERE.)
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POETS & PUBLISHERS:
If you are a poet with a new or forthcoming book, or a publisher/publicist representing a poet, please note that the first half of Season 29 is fully booked (Sept through Dec, 2024). Bookings for the second half of Season 29 (Jan-June 2025) are in progress, but we’re already looking quite full.
We’d still love to hear from you, but will likely add you to our growing Season 30* list (Sept 2025-June 2025). Please note that for logistical purposes, we generally book touring/out-of-province poets first (within a finite amount of spots), and then place our local/provincial poets. Our aim is to offer first preference to poets who identify with communities under-served by the Canadian literary establishment. We sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding.
*Regarding Season 30—we’re not offering dates at this time, just compiling a list of possible readers for our 30th birthday season.
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SIGN UP FOR OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER at the BOTTOM of our HOMEPAGE (if it doesn’t automatically pop up, you’ll need to scroll all the way to the bottom)
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OPEN MIC QUESTIONS:
Please see our OPEN MIC PAGE.
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OUR LIVE EVENTS are open to the public and wheelchair accessible:
Our season runs from Sept-June with a break in December.
Friday Night Poetry: 7:30pm Russell Books 100-747 Fort Street, Downtown Victoria, BC
Doors at 7pm, open mic sign up IN PERSON 7ish-7:20pm
Afternoon Poetry: ONCE a month on Friday at 2pm (see homepage for dates) James Bay New Horizons 230 Menzies St, Victoria, BC
Doors at 1:30pm, open mic sign up IN PERSON 1:30-1:50pm
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LIVESTREAM & YOUTUBE QUESTIONS:
We aim to begin the livestream of our Featured Poets after the open mic, at around 8:05pm.
Access livestream: HERE (Zoom credentials: Meeting ID: 494 660 4447 /Passcode: 2129)
Our featured readers will be posted on Planet Earth Poetry’s YOUTUBE, usually within a week of the live reading (sometimes poets choose not to be posted or livestreamed)
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POETRY NEWS for the PEP NEWSLETTER:
Poetry News for inclusion in our weekly newsletter is always welcome. PLEASE READ the following information BEFORE sending your image file. All events must be open to the community (open mics, readings, book launches, contests, etc.)
1. We accept IMAGE files ONLY. Please do not send event information as text in an email or word document—we cannot use PDF files either. The newsletter is built using website tools and we need an image file that can be added swiftly. (If you don’t have an image file for your event, you can build one using a site like Canva.)
2. For inclusion in the Monday newsletter, files must be received no later than Thursday of the previous week. We will do our best to include your event, but cannot guarantee it. We appreciate your understanding. :)
3. AFTER you’ve read the above information, please send your IMAGE FILE HERE
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MAILING ADDRESS:
PO Box 8464
Victoria Main
Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3S1
(checked very infrequently)
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PAYMENT for Planet Earth Poetry workshops and retreats:
Etransfer is our preference, but we can also accept cash in a clearly labelled envelope at any Friday night event. We no longer accept checks for workshops and retreats.
(Our former AD, Zoe Dickinson, can be reached at Russell Books Victoria.)