February’s Exciting Lineup!

Planet Earth Poetry at The Moka House (formerly The Black Stilt)

1633 Hillside Ave, Victoria BC

February 4, 2011: Two up and coming Canadian poets: Kyeren Regehr and Ali Blythe

Kyeren Regehr’s work has appeared in the Malahat Review and in Mother Tongue’s anthology Rocksalt. The current issue of Grain holds a genre-bending sequence she (loosely) based on years spent in the dance world. She has been shortlisted for several literary competitions, including the Malahat Review’s Long Poem Prize and presently interns on the poetry board of The Malahat Review.

Allison Blythe lives in Saanich and works for BC Transit. Her poetry has appeared in the anthology of contemporary BC poetry, RockSalt, and in magazines likePrism International, SubTerrain and the Malahat Review.

February 11, 2011: Cathy Ford and Jane Munro

the art of breathing underwater, is Cathy Ford's first full-length book of poetry in twenty-one years. She is the author of fourteen books of poetry and numerous chapbooks and folios published by blewointment press, Intermedia Press, Caitlin Press, Vehicule Press, Harbour Publishing and gynergy books.

Jane Munro's newest collection of poetry, Active Pass, explores connections among the visual arts, yogic discipline, and self-regeneration. The book opens with a suite of ghazals arising from the conflicts in mid-life, moves into poems about Mary Pratt's paintings, and closes with a reflective sequence called "Nearer Prayer than Story." A long poem in the third section won the 2007 Bliss Carman Award. Her fourth collection of poems, Point No Point, was published in 2006 by McClelland & Stewart.

February 18, 2011: Susan Stenson reads from Nobody Move.

Drawing from the details of her own life, Susan Stenson tosses everything into the Poetry Blender: words, images, memories, characters, dialogue, hot spices, then presses spin. Voila! Out come poems that are startling and challenging, passionate and outrageous, and at times, serious and rich with compassion. Covering a great swath of territory, these poems are glimpses into lives intensely lived, a celebration of life and its eccentricities.

February 25, 2011: Katia Grubisic and Kenneth Radu

Katia Grubisic is a writer, editor and translator whose work has appeared in various Canadian and international publications. She guest-edited the acclaimed Montréal issue of The New Quarterly, as well as the journal’'s recent non-fiction supplement. Since 2008, she has been the coordinator of the Atwater Poetry Project reading series. Her collection What if red ran out was a finalist for the AM Klein prize for poetry and won the Gerald Lampert award for best first book.

Kenneth Radu is the author of thirteen books – three volumes of poetry, five novels, one memoir and four collections of short stories. Sex In Russia, a 2010 publication is another collection of short stories. He has twice won the Quebec Writers Federation prize for fiction – for A Private Performance (1990) and for Distant Relations (1989). Distant Relations was also shortlisted for the Books in Canada First Novel Award. His first collection of stories, The Cost of Living(1987), was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award.

We acknowledge and thank The Canada Council for the Arts in supporting Planet Earth Poetry.