Dead Poets Reading Series: January Edition

On Sunday, January 8 at 3pm, join Massy Arts Society, Massy Books and four fantastic readers for a bi-monthly literary seance: Dead Poets Reading Series.

Readers act as a medium, inviting us to time travel by reading a selection of work by their favourite dead poet. Previously held in North Vancouver and the Vancouver Public Library, Massy Arts Society offers a new home for this longstanding series since it first kicked off in 2007.

This month:

Etel Adnan (1925 to 2021) read by Raoul Fernandes
Don Domanski (1950 -2020) read by Kevin Spenst
Steven Heighton (1961 – 2022) read by Fiona Tinwei Lam
Phyllis Webb (1927-2021) read by Jane Munro

Registration is free, open to all and required for entrance.
Purchase books by dead poets and living authors at Massy Books or at the event.

Venue & Accessibility

The event will be hosted at the Massy Arts Gallery, at 23 East Pender Street in Chinatown, Vancouver.

The gallery is wheelchair accessible and a gender-neutral washroom is on-site. Please refrain from wearing scents or heavy perfumes.

For more on accessibility including parking, seating, venue measurements and floor plan, and how to request ASL interpretation please visit: massyarts.com/accessibility

Covid Protocols: Masks keep our community safe and are mandatory (N95 masks are recommended as they offer the best protection). We ask if you are showing symptoms, that you stay home. Thank you kindly.

The Dead Poets

Etel Adnan (1925 to 2021) was a Lebanese-American poet, essayist, and visual artist. In 2003, Adnan was named “arguably the most celebrated and accomplished Arab American author writing today.” Adnan will be read by author of Transmitter and Receiver, Raoul Fernandes.

Don Domanski (1950 -2020) is a Governor General’s Literary Award winning poet remembered for his ability to combine epic themes of environmentalism and metaphysics with his trademark intimate, lyric style. Domanski will be read by poet Kevin Spenst.

Steven Heighton (1961 – 2022) was an award-winning Canadian fiction writer, poet, and singer-songwriter. He was the author of eighteen books, including three short story collections, four novels, and seven poetry collections. His last work was Selected Poems 1983-2020 (House of Anansi Press) and an album, The Devil’s Share. His work has been translated into ten languages and widely anthologised. He won the Governor General’s Award for Poetry in 2016, four gold and one silver award for fiction and for poetry in the National Magazine Awards,among many other prestigious national prizes and nominations. Heighton will be read by Vancouver’s Poet Laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam.

Phyllis Webb received the 1999 George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for an Outstanding Literary Career in British Columbia, Order of Canada in 1992 and the Governor General’s Award for Poetry in 1982. Her final collection of poetry, Peacock Blue: The Collected Poems of Phyllis Webb (2014), edited by John F. Hulcoop, “is a dazzling testament to her masterful use of language and the range of her poetic voice.” Webb will be read by the author of Glass Float, Jane Munro.

The Readers

Raoul Fernandes lives with his wife and two sons on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver, BC). His first collection of poems, Transmitter and Receiver (Nightwood Editions, 2015) won the Dorothy Livesay Award and the Debut-litzer Award for Poetry in 2016. He has been published in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including the Best of the Best Canadian Poetry 2017.

Kevin Spenst (he/him) is the author of three poetry collections with Anvil Press and over a dozen chapbooks with three more on the horizon with Collusion Books, the Alfred Gustav Press, and 845 Press. He lives in Vancouver on unceded Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territory.

Fiona Tinwei Lam is Vancouver’s Poet Laureate and has published three collections of poetry and a children’s book, with work featured in Best Canadian Poetry, BC’s Poetry in Transit, and award-winning poetry videos. She has co-edited two nonfiction anthologies and edited The Bright Well: Contemporary Canadian Poems about Facing Cancer. Shortlisted for the Vancouver Book Prize and other awards, her work has been included in over 40 anthologies.

Jane Munro is a Canadian poet, writer, and educator. Blue Sonoma (Brick Books, 2014) won the 2015 Griffin Poetry Prize. Munro’s new poetry collection is False Creek (Harbour Publishing, 2022). It follows Open Every Window: A Memoir (Douglas & McIntyre, 2021) and Glass Float (Brick Books, 2020).