Tag Archive for: Poetry

Bridges Reading: Poetic Justice

Join us for a celebration of poetry! At this friendly session, former New Westminster poet laureate, Alan Hill will host and guest poets, Jónina Kirton and Jessica McMillan will read from their work and answer any audience questions. The event will end with an open mic time for others to share their work. The open mic list (5 minutes each) will be available for sign up at the beginning of the event.

The event will be live in person and also livestreamed via Zoom. All registered attendees will receive the Zoom link a few days before the event. It will not be recorded.

About the Poets

A smiling older woman with grey hair looks into the camera.Jónína Kirton, a Red River Métis and Icelandic poet received the 2016 Vancouver’s Mayor’s Arts Award for an Emerging Artist in the Literary Arts category. Her second collection of poetry, An Honest Woman, was a finalist in the 2018 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. She just released her third book, Standing in a River of Time.

In a black and white photo, a woman with a thick headband and dark hair looks sideways into the camera with a slight smile.

 

Jessica Lee McMillan (she/her) is a poet and teacher with an English MA and creative writing certificate from SFU’s The Writer’s Studio. Her work has appeared in over 30 publications across Turtle Island including Crab Creek Review, The Humber Literary Review, Funicular, Pinhole Poetry, and Rose Garden Press. Jessica was a finalist for The Fiddlehead’s 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest. She won the 2022 Royal City Literary Arts Society Write On! Contest for Poetry and has received poetry nominations for the Pushcart and Best of the Net. She lives on the land of the Halkomelem-speaking Peoples with her little family and large dog

In front of some trees, a smiling older man in a bright blue shirt and glasses looks into the camera.

 

Alan Hill was born in the UK and immigrated to Canada in 2005. He is the former Poet Laureate of the City of New Westminster, BC (2017-2020), former president of the Royal City Literary Arts Society (RCLAS), and was the editor and curator of A Poetry of Place: Journeys Across New Westminster, published in partnership with New Westminster Arts Services. His writing has been published internationally and his poetry has appeared in Event, CV2, Canadian Literature, The Antigonish Review, subTerrain, Poetry is Dead, among others. He works in the field of community development and immigrant settlement and lives in New Westminster, BC. His book In The Blood, was published by Caitlin Press in 2022. 

About RCLAS

A purple and grey logo reading Royal City Literary Arts Society RCLAS

The Royal City Literary Arts Society’s mission is to maintain and build a welcoming community of writers and readers, to support the goals of writers at all stages of their development, and to promote an appreciation of all forms of literary arts.  We are committed to building community capacity through the literary arts, promoting literacy, social connection and cross-cultural understanding and the central importance of the written and spoken word in community life.

Bridges: Microfiction Showcase

In this celebratory reading event, we showcase the creations from two Microfiction workshops offered in advance of the Bridges Literary Festival (April 27 and May 1). Members of the community are creating postcard-sized pieces that will be displayed in the fiction area of the library. Workshop instructor, Hannah Bel Davis will be featured and New Westminster’s Poet Laureate, Elliott Slinn will host! The event will take place in the reading lounge on the main floor of the library.

with a gold background, a smiling woman with blonde hair looks toward the left. She has gold chains around her neck and bare shoulders.

 

Hannah Bel Davis is a literary and visual artist. She has an MA in Creative Writing from Concordia University and a BFA in Film and English from Simon Fraser University. She lives with her family and animals on the unceded and unsurrendered land of the Halkomelem-speaking peoples.

 

 

 

 

A light skinned black man with very short hair and wearing a black shirt looks directly into the camera.Poet Elliott Slinn was named New Westminster’s fifth (and youngest) Poet Laureate in June 2021, actively beginning his tenure that August. Slinn was born and raised in the Queen’s Park neighbourhood of New Westminster and still resides in the Royal City today. Slinn, in addition to being a poet, is also a singer-songwriter. Slinn’s poetry and lyrics focus on the existential events of our day-to-day existence. Slinn’s work has been described as immediate and accessible, as he aims to transform his personal tale into a shared experience.