The Planet Earth Poetry reading series is a launching pad for the energies of writers and poets established and not. It is a place where words are most important. A venue in which all manner of poets and writers are welcome; a place for excellence, innovation, collaboration, diverse projects and experiments. The evening begins at 7:30 with an open mic, followed by a featured reader(s). Planet Earth Poetry is located at Hillside Coffee and Tea, 1633 Hillside Ave (across from Bolen Books). Between 7 and 7:15, put your name in the hat to read at open mic.

FRIDAY, decemBER 4, 2015

all open mic

Tonight we feature our regular and new readers at the open mic. Put your name in the hat between 7 and 7:15 for your chance to read. The open mic rules relax this evening: readers can bring 2 poems, for a maximum of 6 minutes.

Also, Dvora Levin, Terry Ann Carter and Rhonda Ganz will give a short presentation of how they collaborated to produce a limited edition of handmade books featuring Dvora’s latest collection, Zeroing in on Nothing.

FRIDAY, january 15, 2016

YVONNE BLOMER & rachel rose

Yvonne Blomer was born in Zimbabwe and came to Canada when she was two years old. Her first collection a broken mirror, fallen leaf was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Yvonne has also published two chap books and is the co-editor of Poems from Planet Earth (Leaf Press, 2013) out of the Planet Earth Poetry reading series, of which she is the Artistic Director. In 2014 her third full collection of poems As if a Raven was released with Palimpsest Press, in it Yvonne explores creation, destruction and beauty through birds and biblical references. yvonneblomer.com

Rachel Rose has won awards for her poetry, her fiction, and her non-fiction, including a 2014 and 2016 Pushcart Prize. She is the Poet Laureate of Vancouver for 2014–2017. A chapbook, Thirteen Ways of Looking at CanLit, is forthcoming from BookThug, and a new collection, Marry & Burn, is forthcoming from Harbour.

Recently a fellow at Iowa City’s International Writing Program, Rachel Rose is a dual American/Canadian citizen whose work has appeared in various journals in Canada, the U.S., New Zealand and Japan.

Her second book, Notes of Arrival and Departure, was published by McClelland & Stewart in 2005. Winner of the Peterson Memorial Prize for poetry and the Bronwen Wallace Award for fiction, she holds a BA in English from McGill University and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver, BC.

planet Earth poetry’s

victoria poem contest

This is your chance to feature your (favourite!) city in a poem. Planet Earth Poetry challenges you to list at least FIVE Victoria(n) places, objects, people and other delights in a poem 30 lines or less. Don’t worry, we've put together a Victorian List of things for you to choose from. You'll find it and all the rules on our Contests page. We’re putting together some prizes to tempt you. Stay tuned.