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, january 13, 2017

owain nicholson &
stephen collis 

Digsite originates from archaeological field work in Canada’s oilsands, an area some 141000 square kilometres. It is a critical lens into abandonment of individual and societal identity, social disconnection, and is a descent into who and what humanity might be. These poems use archaeology as a physical and emotional landscape, a path into analysis, and questions our own belonging.

Owain Nicholson is an award-winning Canadian author and archaeologist. His first book, Digsite, was published by Nightwood Editions in October 2016. He lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Stephen Collis is the author of five books of poetry, including the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize winning On the Material (Talonbooks, 2010) and three parts of the on-going “Barricades Project”: Anarchive (New Star, 2005), The Commons (Talonbooks, 2008, 2014), and To the Barricades  (Talonbooks, 2013). An activist and social critic, his writing on the Occupy movement is collected in Dispatches from the Occupation (Talonbooks, 2012).

FRIDAY, january 20, 2017

ELEE KRALJII GARDiNER & PAMELA PORTER

Elee Kraljii Gardiner is the author of the book of poems serpentine loop (Anvil Press), one of 2016’s “most anticipated spring releases” and now in a second printing. She is the co-editor with John Asfour of V6A: Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2012), which was shortlisted for the 2012 City of Vancouver Book Award. Elee founded Thursdays Writing Collective, a non-profit organization of more than 150 writers in Vancouver and she is the editor and publisher of its eight anthologies. She is originally from Boston and is a dual US/Canadian citizen.

Pamela Porter’s work has earned more than a dozen provincial, national, and international awards, including the inaugural Gwendolyn MacEwan Poetry Prize, the 2013 Malahat Review 50th Anniversary Poetry Prize, the Our Times Poetry Award for political poetry, the 2012 FreeFall Magazine Poetry Award, the 2011 Prism International  Grand Prize in Poetry, the 2010 Vallum Magazine Poem of the Year Award, as well as the CBC, Raymond Souster and Pat Lowther Award shortlists. Her novel in verse, The Crazy Man, won the 2005 Governor General's Award, the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award, the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award, and other prizes. Both The Crazy Man and her 2011 novel, I’ll be Watching,  are required reading in schools and colleges across Canada and the US. Patrick Lane has called her “a poet to be grateful for.” Defending Darkness is her 9th volume of poetry. Pamela lives near Sidney, BC with her family and a menagerie of rescued horses, dogs, and cats.

FRIDAY, january 27, 2017

MALEEA ACKER & ANGELINE SCHELLENbERG

Angeline Schellenberg lives in Winnipeg with her husband, their two teenagers, and a German shepherd/corgi and works as a copy editor.

Her poetry was shortlisted for Arc’s Poem of the Year, and her poems have appeared in journals including Prairie Fire, Arc, CV2, TNQ, Grain, and Lemon Hound, as well as the chapbook Roads of Stone.

Tell Them It Was Mozart is a collection of linked poems that uncover the ache and whimsy of raising children on the autism spectrum. Through public judgments, detouring dreams and unspoken prayers, Angeline Schellenberg’s debut traces both a slow bonding and the emergence of a defiant humour. From a newborn “glossed and quivering” to a child conquering the fear of strange toilets, Tell Them It Was Mozart is bracing in its honesty, healing in its jubilance.

Maleea Acker is the author of three books: Air-Proof Green and The Reflecting Pool (Pedlar Press, poetry), and Gardens Aflame: Garry Oak Meadows of BC’s South Coast, with New Star Books (non-fiction).

Her poetry, non-fiction and journalism has also been published in periodicals such as Focus Magazine,  Other Poetry, Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, Prism International, Descant, Event, Ascent and the anthologies Best Canadian Poetry in English, 2008, Rocksalt, Poetry from Planet Earth, Force Field, Make It True, and I Found it at the Movies. She writes a monthly environmental column for Focus Magazine.

Maleea holds a BFA and an MFA in Writing and an MA in West Coast Literature. She has been a writing fellow at residencies in Canada, the USA, Mexico and Spain. Maleea serves on the editorial board of the Malahat Review (non-fiction) and as a Director for Suddenly Dance Victoria.

She is currently a sessional instructor at Camosun College and at the University of Victoria, where she is completing a PhD in Human Geography, with a focus on Geopoetics. She is from Vancouver Island.