Contributors

Headshot
Host

Kyeren Regehr

Kyeren Regehr is an award-winning poet and writer with a background in professional dance and theatre. She is the author of Cult Life (finalist for the ReLit Awards and the Victoria Butler Book Prize) and Disassembling A Dancer (winner of the inaugural Raven Chapbooks contest), as well as two earlier chapbooks. Her poetry has been published in Canada, Australia and in the USA, and has been thrice-longlisted for CBC Poetry Awards, and more.  


Kyeren served as a poetry editor at Canada’s iconic literary journal, The Malahat Review and holds a BFA & MFA Writing (recipient of the Victoria Medal). She’s the 5th Artistic Director of Planet Earth Poetry reading series and is editing the anthology After: Poems in Dialogue, forthcoming with Caitlin Press in 2026. 


Kyeren is the 7th Poet Laureate of Victoria and has lived on the unceded homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ for over twenty years.  

https://www.kyerenregehr.ca/
Headshot
Editor

Jordan Dack, Haus of Owl


Supporting artists to create the best work of their careers.

A Co-working Club for Creators. A Production Haus for disruptors. In the heart of Victoria BC, Canada 


www.hausofowl.com


What happens when Artists from multiple disciplines are given the inspiration to create, the studio environments to capture that creation, and the community to share their creation with, all under one roof?


Haus of Owl exists to support the creative spirit, hunger, and process of artists in the world of music, film, fashion, photography and dance. This curated community consists of Membership options that span from Drop-In Artist to Dedicated Creator with in-house recording and film studios supported by a collective of industry pros.

Guests

Headshot
Guest

Hollay Ghadery

Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She has her MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph.

Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her collection of poetry, Rebellion Box was released by Radiant Press in 2023, and her collection of short fiction, Widow Fantasies, was released with Gordon Hill Press in fall 2024.

Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is due out with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, with Guernica Editions in 2027.


https://www.hollayghadery.ca/
Headshot
Guest

John Barton

John Barton (https://www.john-barton.ca) is a poet, essayist, editor, and writing mentor. His collections of poetry include Hymn, For the Boy with the Eyes of the Virgin: Selected Poems, Polari, Lost Family: A Memoir, which was nominated for the 2021 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, and Compulsory Figures, which will be published in September 2025. His other books include We Are Not Avatar: Essays, Memoirs, Manifestos, Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay-Male Poets, The Essential Douglas LePan, winner of an eLit Award in 2020, and Best Canadian Poetry 2023. The recipient of three Archibald Lampman Awards, a CBC Literary Award, and a National Magazine Award, he is a life member of the League of Canadian Poets. He lives in Victoria and was the city’s first queer poet laureate.

https://www.john-barton.ca
Headshot
Guest

Lorri Neilsen Glenn

Lorri Neilsen Glenn is the author and contributing editor of fifteen titles of poetry, creative nonfiction and scholarly work, including her latest work, The Old Moon in Her Arms: Women I Have Known and Been (Nimbus). Halifax’s first Métis Poet Laureate, she was a recipient of Halifax's Women of Excellence award, has had appointments as Writer in Residence across Canada and served as President of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. Lorri has mentored writers across Canada and in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, and Chile. She divides her time between Halifax and Rose Bay, Nova Scotia. 

https://ukings.ca/people/lorri-neilsen-glenn/
Headshot
Guest

Munro's Books

A landmark in Victoria's Old Town, Munro's Books has been in business since 1963. Visit our beautiful heritage building and browse an extensive selection of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, children's books, magazines and more. Munro’s has been a sanctuary for readers and writers alike for over 60 years, and their poetry section is unrivaled.

https://munrobooks.com/
Headshot
Guest

The Malahat Review

The Malahat Review was established in 1967 by University of Victoria English professors Robin Skelton and John Peter. Thereafter, editors have included Constance Rooke, Derk Wynand, Marlene Cookshaw, and John Barton. Micaela Maftei served as interim editor from January to July 2018. Iain Higgins is the current editor (as of July 2018).


The Malahat Review is dedicated to excellence in writing. Its aim is to discover the most promising of the new writers and publish their work alongside the best established writers, to present work accurately and attractively to readers, and to increase awareness of Canadian writing in general through perceptive critical comment.