The Story of Planet Earth Poetry

30 years of serving the community through poetry

A BRIEF TIMELINE:
Over the last twenty-eight years Planet Earth Poetry (PEP) has provided a consistent venue and audience for both emerging and accomplished poets, both locally and across Canada. Planet Earth Poetry, originally called the Mocambo Poetry Café, began presenting weekly Friday poetry readings in 1995, in downtown Victoria, under the Artistic Directorship of poet, Wendy Morton (Order of BC recipient for her work on the Elder Project, and former Poet Laureate of Juan de Fuca).

In 2007, when the series moved to The Black Stilt café on Hillside Ave, it became Planet Earth Poetry, named after the Griffin Award-winning book, Planet Earth: Poems Selected and New by esteemed West Coast poet, P.K. Page. The reading series flourished for twelve years at this location, and endured through various owner/name changes (The Moka House, Hillside Coffee and Tea). During this time, it was well-tended by two artistic directors: Yvonne Blomer held the Artistic Directorship from 2009-2015, and stepped down to become the City of Victoria’s 4th Poet Laureate. Then from 2015-2020, Poet and anthologist, Daniel G. Scott, took the reigns. In January 2021, award-winning poet and bookseller, Zoe Dickenson carried the reading series through the pandemic, curating it for an online platform and gathering a small national following. Now, post pandemic, it has returned to downtown Victoria, live each week at Russell Books—weekly Featured Readers continue to be showcased via Zoom for a regular distance audience.

Over the years a dedicated team of Planet Earth Poetry poet-volunteers has grown and become indispensable to the Artistic Director and the running of the reading series. The Poetry Bees take care of many essential tasks from venue set-up to social media, to booking and running PEP’s workshops and retreat (our Bees include award-winning poets, and other dedicated local poets). In (year) Planet Earth Poetry became a registered society with charitable status, with a board of directors, and in (year) PEP built a Mutual Respect Policy, a decolonization Mandate.