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). Sign-up for the open mic begins at 7pm.

Friday, july 24, 2015

shelley leedahl and steve noyes

Shelley A. Leedahl is a prolific multi-genre writer. Her most recent books are I Wasn’t Always Like This (essays, Signature Editons. Winnipeg); Listen, Honey (short stories, DC Books, Montreal); Wretched Beast (poetry, BuschekBooks, Ottawa); and The House of the Easily Amused (poetry, Oolichan Books, Lantzville, BC). A new children’s book, The Moon Watched It All, will be released next year. Leedahl’s work  has frequently been anthologized in books ranging from Great Canadian Murder and Mystery Stories (Quarry Press) to The Best Canadian Poetry in English, 2013 (Tightrope Books). She worked as a radio advertising copywriter for many years, and now freelance writes and edits for a variety of markets. Saskatchewan born and raised, Shelley moved from Edmonton to Ladysmith in 2014.  

Steve Noyes is from Winnipeg and was educated at Carleton University's School of Journalism and U.B.C.’s MFA program. Over the years he has worked at many jobs, including editor, parking lot attendant, printing press grunt and disabilities advocate. More recently, he has taught English in Chinese universities several times and spent more than a decade as a policy analyst in the BC Ministry of Health.

Steve has published nine books of fiction and poetry, and more than a hundred journal publications in Canadian literary magazines and newspapers. His most recent poetry collections are small data (Frog Hollow Press) and Rainbow Stage-Manchuria (Oolichan Books). His first novel, It is just that your house is so far away (Signature Editions), prompted reviewers to call it “a portrait of China that is honest, intimate and layered” and “a wonderful book.”

These days, Steve divides his time between Victoria, where he lives with his wife, the poet Catherine Greenwood, and Canterbury, England, where is he pursuing a PhD in Writing at the University of Kent.

***FROM 5 to 7 pm***

sunday, july 26, 2015

Catherine Owen launches “The Other 23 1/2 Hours”

Catherine Owen lives in New Westminster, BC. She is the author of ten collections of poetry, among them Designated Mourner (ECW, 2014), Trobairitz (Anvil Press 2012), Seeing Lessons (Wolsak & Wynn 2010) and Frenzy (Anvil Press 2009). Her poems are included in several recent anthologies such as Forcefield: 77 Women Poets of BC (Mother Tongue Publishing, 2013). Her collection of memoirs and essays is called Catalysts: confrontations with the muse (W & W, 2012).

Frenzy won the Alberta Book Prize and other collections have been nominated for the BC Book Prize, the Re-lit, the CBC Prize, & the George Ryga Award. She works in film and TV, plays metal bass and blogs at Marrow Reviews on Wordpress.com

Friday, aug 14, 2015

Deanna Young and Sandy Shreve

Deanna Young’s third book of poetry, House Dreams, was published by Brick Books in 2014. Her previous books are Drunkard’s Path and The Still Before a Storm. Her writing has appeared in journals across Canada and received numerous acknowledgments, including the grand prize in the 2013 PRISM international Poetry Contest. Originally from southwestern Ontario, she now lives in Ottawa where she edits, teaches and co-directs the Tree Reading Series.

Sandy Shreve’s fifth poetry collection is Waiting for the Albatross (Oolichan, 2015). It combines photos and found poems she crafted by borrowing from the vivid prose in a diary her father, Jack Shreve, kept while working as a deck-hand on a tramp freighter in 1936. Her previous books include Suddenly, So Much (Exile Editions, 2005) and Belonging (Sono Nis Press, 1997). She co-edited, with Kate Braid, the anthology In Fine Form – The Canadian Book of Form Poetry (2005; second edition forthcoming from Caitlin Press in 2016), edited Working For A Living, a collection of poems and stories by women about their work (Room of One’s Own, 1988) and founded BC’s Poetry in Transit program. Her work is widely anthologized and has won the Earle Birney Prize for Poetry and been short listed for several prizes, including the Milton Acorn People’s Poetry Award and the National Magazine Awards for poetry.

Friday, september 18, 2015

Season Opening Night: MSF/Doctors Without Borders fundraiser

Doctors Without Borders: Medical aid where it is needed most. Independent. Neutral. Impartial.

Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) helps people worldwide where the need is greatest, delivering emergency medical aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, disasters or exclusion from health care.

Planet Earth Poetry begins its 20th year with our annual MSF/Doctors Without Borders Fundraiser in a joint event co-hosted by PEP’s New Artistic Director Daniel G. Scott and Victoria’s Poet Laureate Yvonne Blomer.

This is the night to bring your favourite poem by a poet other than yourself and to bring cash to buy books. Each book is $5 and all money goes to MSF/Doctors Without Borders.

This evening will also mark the official start of Daniel Scott’s position at Planet Earth Poetry. Welcome Daniel!