Isabella Mori

Kyle Hawke

Joseph A Farina is a retired lawyer in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada. Several of his poems have been published in Quills Canadian Poetry Magazine, Ascent ,Subterranean Blue and in The Tower Poetry Magazine, Inscribed, The Windsor Review, Boxcar Poetry Revue , and appears in the anthology Sweet Lemons: Writings with a Sicilian Accent , in the anthology Witness from Serengeti Press and Tamaracks: Canadian Poetry for the 21st Century . He has had poems published in the U.S. magazines Mobius, Pyramid Arts, Arabesques, Fiele-Festa, Philedelphia Poets and Memoir (and) as well as in Silver Birch Press “Me, at Seventeen” Series. He has had two books of poetry published— The Cancer Chronicles and The Ghosts of Water Street . 

Dolores Dallas was born in Vancouver. She is Cowichan First Nation. Dallas is active in her community in the Downtown Eastside and is a proud Mother, Grandmother and Great Grandmother. Dallas studied at Spirit Song, a Native theatre school, Native Earth Theater School , and En’owken International School of Creative Writing and Fine Arts and has worked with Full Circle Theatre, Vancouver.

Valerie Davidson-Oar, is the owner of Giggy's Beads Boutique. Her traditional name is Misko Mangiikwe/ Red Loon Woman. Valerie is an Anishinaabe First Nations woman from Manitoba living on the traditional, ancestral and unceded territory of the Coast Salish peoples – Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ilwətaɁɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) Nations.

Sebastian is a writer and LGBT+ community advocate of Chinese descent living on the traditional territory of the Syilx People of the Okanagan Nation in Interior BC. They were adopted from China as a baby and the concepts of belonging, destiny, and establishing an identity are common themes in their work. As an educator, Sebastian works to promote tolerance and understanding of LGBT+ populations and has run workshops and spoken at conferences across Turtle Island. They are inspired by space, the stars, and astral bodies beyond the earth's boundaries. Sebastian is an emerging poet and the Muriel's Journey Poetry Prize marks their first poetry publication. You can find them on their website http://sebastianyue.ca and on Twitter @sebastianyue.

Michelle Poirier Brown is an internationally published poet and performer, currently living in Lək̓ʷəŋən territory (Victoria, BC) where she facilitated reconciliation dialogues at the Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, and co-founded the Indigenous Artists and Research Fellowship at the University of Victoria. She is an active citizen of the Métis Nation of BC and of Greater Victoria. Her poem “Wake” won PRISM international’s Earle Birney Prize in 2019. Other poetry has appeared in numerous magazines and Michelle’s debut poetic memoir You Might Be Sorry You Read This is forthcoming from the University of Alberta Press in 2022.

Gilles live on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh people. He has published one book of poetry and is working on a second one. He coordinates Downtown Eastside Writers Collective and last year was a co-editor of their book, “Contunuum.” He serves on the board of the Carnegie Community Centre Association, has worked for the last three years for the Heart of the City Festival, and before Covid taught a course in English Grammar for the UBC Hum Program, a series of free lectures for DTES people who want to return to academic studies.

Catherine Garrett is a journalist and poet currently living on the unceded traditional territory of the L'heidli T'enneh Nation, colonially known as Prince George. She has been a member of several vancouver and victoria spoken word teams, and most recently published in Room Magazine. She is an active volunteer with the Vancouver and Victoria slam scenes, often hosting and organizing events.You can find her crying about hockey online at @cath_garrett on Twitter. 

Jano Klimas is a spoken word poet, scientist, writer and thinker. He first started writing poetry with the Downtown East Side Writers Collective, formerly the Thursdays Writing Collective, in February 2015. janklimas.com/spoken-word