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, JUNE 10, 2016

DAVID FRASER &
JIM ROBERTS

David Fraser is a poet, spoken-word performer, publisher and editor. He lives in Nanoose Bay, on Vancouver Island. He is the founder and editor of Ascent Aspirations Magazine. His poetry has appeared in many journals and anthologies, including Rocksalt, An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry (Mother Tongue Press), Poems from Planet Earth (Leaf Press), Walk Myself Home (Caitlin Press) and recently Tesseracts 18. He has published six collections of poetry. In addition David has co-authored with Naomi Beth Wakan, On Poetry, an inspirational book on poetics and poetry and has completed a response poem collection, Maybe We Could Dance, with poet Pat Smekal. His most recent collection of poetry is After All the Scissor Work is Done, published by Leaf Press in April 2016.

These poems play with memory, finds out what's left on the cutting-room floor. David Fraser steers away from linear narrative, edits out connections, allows the reader room. But these are not pretty pieces: the poems scrape at the dark of human experience.

Jim Roberts made it through the UVic creative writing program not long after it started. In the mid-1970s he moved to Toronto, and at different times over the next 35 years he set type by hand, bought and sold books, and copyedited annual reports. In 2000 Wolsak and Wynn published his book From an argument I’ve taken with me. In 2012 Jim moved back to Victoria. He is currently a member of Haiku Arbutus and is completing several poetry collections, including Appropriations and Going with gravity. He was a finalist for the Malahat Review's 2016 Open Season Award.

FRIDAY, june 24, 2016

rachel lebowitz  & 
zachariah wells

Zachariah Wells is the author of the poetry collections Unsettled, Track & Trace and Sum and the editor of Jailbreaks: 99 Canadian Sonnets. A prolific reviewer of contemporary Canadian poetry, a selection of his essays and interviews was published in 2013 under the title Career Limiting Moves. Originally from Prince Edward Island, he has hung his hat on all three of Canada’s coasts lives now in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he works as a freelance editor and railroad service attendant.

Rachel Lebowitz is the author of Hannus, which was shortlisted for the 2007 Roderick Haig-Brown Regional BC Book Prize and the Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction. She is also the co-author, with Zachariah Wells, of the children's picture book Anything But Hank! Her most recent work is Cottonopolis, a book of prose poems about the Industrial Revolution, and the Baseline Press chapbook Their Useless Wings. She lives in Halifax, where she coordinates tutoring programs at the public library. 

FRIDAY, july 15, 2016

judith castle &
dorothy mahoney

Judith Castle lived in Montréal, Québec, for many years, where she taught Humanities at Collège LaSalle, and Social Psychology at Continuing Education, Concordia University. Her poetry has been published in The Fiddlehead, The Antigonish Review, Event, Island Writer Magazine, and in various anthologies. 

Her art photographs have been exhibited at Galerie Luz and Galerie Nota Bene, Montréal.

Flare Path, her first volume of
poetry, was published in 2012, and
her second volume, What Remains,
in 2014. Now I Lay Me Down followed in 2015. Her latest book is Surface Tension.

She lives in Victoria, BC.
judithcastle.com

Dorothy Mahoney is the author of two poetry collections, Through Painted Skies, and Returning to the Point.

Her poetry has been included in numerous anthologies, most recently appearing in Detours, An Anthology of Poets from Windsor and Essex County. A retired teacher, she resides in Windsor, Ontario.

About her latest book Off Leash:
Everyone has a dog story, from the salesman at Home Depot to the passenger on a plane who confesses about the scar on his face. The poems in Mahoney’s third collection explore the concepts of identity and ownership through rich linguistic textures and voices. From a boy’s fascination with Tom Terrific and Mighty Manfred to uniquely imagined Biblical dogs, Off Leash delves into the anguish of dogs loved and lost, and the joy of homecoming.

FRIDAY, august 19, 2016

barbara pelman & timothy shay

Barbara Pelman is a retired English teacher in Victoria, BC. She will be launching her chapbook Aubade Amalfi, The Marcello Poems. She is an active participant in the writing community, as an assistant in a weekly poetry series, and as a teacher and organizer of poetry workshops. She has two books of poetry—One Stone (Ekstasis Editions 2005) and Borrowed Rooms (Ronsdale Press 2008) and a number of poems in various literary journals. She is working on a third manuscript, in between visits to her adorable grandson in Sweden. She plays flute, badly, and longs to learn the cello.

Timothy Shay writes and lives in Vancouver, BC. His work has appeared in many Canadian literary magazines, on CBC Radio and in the Rolling Stone. He has one book, This Cabin as the S.S. Titanic, and several chapbooks, and his collection The Dirty Knees of Prayer is forthcoming from Caitlin Press in 2016.