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.  Planet Earth Poetry acknowledges that we have the honour to host this reading series on the traditional territory of the Lekwungen peoples.

FRIDAY, may 11, 2018

SUSAN MCCASLIN

Susan McCaslin’s Into the Open: Poems New and Selected (Inanna, 2017) is a compendium of the best and most representative of Susan McCaslin's poetry over nearly five decades. In addition, it showcases new work. In the words of her editor Katerina Fretwell, "Selecting from Susan McCaslin's eighteen-book oeuvre Into the Open has been a pilgrimage through her poetic and spiritual evolution. Such diversity suggests the range and reach of McCaslin's work. Here is a poet at the peak of her powers."

Susan McCaslin has published fifteen volumes of poetry, including Into the Open: Poems New and Selected (Inanna, 2017). She resides in Fort Langley, where she initiated the Han Shan Poetry Project as part of a successful campaign to protect an endangered rainforest. Most days, she can be found walking the trails along the Fraser with her mini-Australian Shepherd, Rosie.

FRIDAY, may 11, 2018

DANIELLE JANESS

Danielle Janess’s poetry and translations appear broadly in international journals such as Poetry London (UK), Event, CV2, Prairie Fire, and in the anthology In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry (Raincoast). Her fiction has been short-listed for the Rhona Murray Award, and was a past winner in the Monday Magazine Summer Fiction Contest.

Originally from the shores of Lake Huron, Danielle has lived most recently in Berlin, Germany, where she performed on stage, in film, and in voice-over with the likes of ETBerlin and at the Lange Nacht der Opern und Theater. A contributing reviewer to the ExBerliner, she was a featured poet at the 2010 Internationales Literaturfestival Berlin, and her translations of the major German poet Jan Wagner have been widely read and appreciated. 

Formerly an editor at Berlin’s Sand Journal, she currently edits for CWILA and is the creator and curator of Linden Sofa Salon, a gathering of words and ideas in various living rooms of Victoria, BC.

FRIDAY, may 25, 2018

SUSAN ELMSLIE

Susan Elmslie’s poetry collection, Museum of Kindness (Brick, 2017), has been longlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her first collection, I, Nadja, and Other Poems (Brick, 2006), won the A.M. Klein Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the McAuslan, the Lowther, and ReLit awards. Her poems have also appeared in several journals and anthologies—including the Best Canadian Poetry in English (2008, 2015), the Best of the Best Canadian Poetry (2017), and will appear in the first literary anthology on autism: The Girl Who Turned into a Moth: Contemporary Poets on Autism (edited by Sean Thomas Dougherty, forthcoming with New York Quarterly books in 2019). A Hawthornden Poetry Fellow, Susan holds an MA in Canadian Literature from Western and a PhD in English from McGill. Recently, she was an invited reader at the girtLit Festival in Hamilton. She teaches English at Dawson College in Montreal.

FRIDAY, may 25, 2018

JORDAN MOUNTEER 

Jordan Mounteer's writing has appeared in numerous Canadian and American publications, and has won or been shortlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize, The Malahat Review's Open Season Award, CV2's Young Buck Award, PRISM international's Poetry Prize and Pacific Spirit Prize, and the Montreal Poetry Prize. His first book liminal (Sono Nis, 2017) came out last spring. He currently resides in Victoria.