Join three award-winning West Kootenay authors, Jane Byers, Leesa Dean, and Rayya Liebich, for the first two shows in their tour supported by the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance and Columbia Basin Trust. They’ll be performing a mix of previously published and new poetry at the Langham Theatre in Kaslo on Friday, November 3, 7 – 9 pm and again on Sunday, November 12, 2 – 4 pm, at the Vallican Whole in the Slocan Valley.
“I’ve been wanting to do this kind of show for a long time,” says Leesa Dean, the tour organizer. “We aren’t just reading poetry. We are coming together as poets and discussing our deep connection to the genre and why poetry is important to us, especially in a world where art is under attack. Oh yes, and we’re also going to have fun doing poetry mad libs.”
Jane Byers, winner of the 2017 Goldie Award for lesbian poetry, lives with her wife and teenagers in Nelson, BC. She is the author of two poetry collections, one memoir, and a poetry chapbook. She has had poems and essays published in anthologies and literary journals in Canada, the U.S. and England, including Best Canadian Poetry 2014.
Leesa Dean is an instructor at Selkirk College. Her first book, Waiting for the Cyclone, was a finalist for the 2017 Trillium and Relit Awards. She is also the author of a novella in verse and two poetry chapbooks. Her poetry has been nominated for numerous awards, and she was runner-up for the 2022 Pacific Spirit Prize.
Rayya Liebich is a Canadian poet of Lebanese and Polish descent has won many awards for her writing, including the International Amy MacRae Award for Memoir. Her debut full-length collection of poems, Min Hayati, was released by Inanna Publications in 2021. Passionate about writing as a tool for transformation, she teaches creative writing classes to youth, adults and seniors in Nelson, BC.
Don’t miss these unique opportunities to engage with these exceptional poets as they discuss art, poetics, and the evolving role of poetry and the poet.