Join us for delightful pairings of poetic voices. Voices become differently engaged when set against another writer’s work. Couplets bounce words off one another, relate their stories, and rejoice in the collaboration of expression. Question period to follow.

Location: Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery

Type: Poetry

Sponsored by Pandora’s Collective · The Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery

Host: Mary Duffy

Pairs: Robin Susanto & Elena Johnson | Bonnie Quan Symons & Lara Varesi | Jude Neale & Wilhelmina Salmi | Bill Arnott & Celeste Snowber

About The Readers

ROBIN SUSANTO went to school to study statistics. Along the way he taught himself translation, and was picked up by poetry. His translation of an Indonesian novel was published by Lontar Foundation under the title “Never the Twain.” His poetry and fiction have appeared in several publications including Wild Weather, Anthology of Love Poems published by Leaf Press, the New Quarterly, and Contemporary Verse 2. In 2017 he won 2nd prize in the William Henry Drummond poetry contest, as well as an honorary mention in the Ross & Davis Mitchell Canada 150 poetry contest. He lives in Vancouver where he continues immigrating toward a home.

Elena Johnson is the author of Field Notes for the Alpine Tundra (Gaspereau, 2015), poems set at a remote research station in the Yukon. She works as an editor and writing mentor on unceded Coast Salish territory in Vancouver, and is a co-editor of Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis (Coach House, 2021). The French translation of her book was published in 2021 and won the John Glassco Prize. This summer she was a writer-in-residence at the Al Purdy A-frame in Ontario.

Bill Arnott is the bestselling author of the Gone Viking travel memoirs, A Season on Vancouver Island, and other books of nonfiction, fiction, and poetry. He’s been awarded for prose, poetry, songwriting, and for his expeditions received a Fellowship at London’s Royal Geographical Society. When not trekking with a small pack and journal, armed with his laughably outdated camera phone, or showing off cooking skills as a culinary school dropout, Bill can be found on Canada’s west coast, where he lives near the sea on Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh land.

Celeste Nazeli Snowber, PhD is dancer, poet/writer and award-winning educator who is a Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. Celeste has written extensively and her books include, Embodied inquiry: Writing living and being through the body, three collections of poetry and her most recent book is Dance, poetics and place: Site-specific performance as a portal to knowing. Celeste creates site-specific performances in the natural world, including botanical gardens and sites between land and sea. Celeste lives outside Vancouver, B.C. and is a mother of three amazing adult sons. She can be found at www.celestesnowber.com.

Bonnie Quan Symons has had several of her poems published in Canada (Poetry Pause, Quills, Ricepaper magazine, and Vancouver Courier), United States (Four and Twenty, Resurrectionist Review, Pyrokinection, and Kind of a Hurricane Press), and Australia (Skive Magazine). She is a member of Pandora’s Collective, Poetic Justice, and Writers’ International Network (WIN). She was a recipient of the 2016 Nehru Humanitarian Award. She works at the BC Teachers' Federation and lives in Vancouver, BC.

Lara Varesi began her poetry journey with Pandora’s Collective in 2010. She has been president of Burnaby Writers' Society since 2014, and organizes and hosts their monthly reading series Spoken INK. Through there, she has been able to connect with and present many talented and inspiring authors from all over Canada who encourage her own writing journey. Lara has been fortunate to host and feature at many events, including Poetic Justice, WIN International, Mashed Poetics, Twisted Poets, Word Whips, Poetry in the Park, and the Dominion Reading Series. Along with Spoken INK, Lara has organized special events for the Burnaby Writers' Society. In 2017, she paired with the Burnaby Arts Council for a special event, “Writing Through Art,” which was a great success. She’s thrilled to be a part of this event for Word Vancouver.

Jude Neale has written twelve collections of poetry. She is an opera singer, mentor, master educator (Prime Minister’s Award shortlist), poetry workshop organizer and facilitator,mother, grandmother and wife. She was first published when she was eight when she won a youth competition on travel on the CBC. Her book, A Quiet Coming of Light, was a finalist for the LCP Pat Lowther Award and her manuscript, Splendid in its Silence, won publication in the UK. Her poem, Blue Bowl, was finalist for the prestigious Irish Gregory O’Donoghue International Poetry Award. Jude’s poem, Emptiness in the Garden, was chosen by Britain’s Poet Laureate, Sir Andrew Motion, to ride the buses in the Channel Islands for a year. Because of her musical background she collaborated with violist, composer and visionary, Thomas RL Beckman, to write a poetic prose narrative for the three movement orchestrated suite, The St. Roch Suite. It was performed live by the Prince George Symphony Orchestra. She has been published widely internationally and nationally. Her forthcoming book this summer is a collaboration with the visual artist Nicholas Jennings and is called, Water Forgets Its Own Name (Ekstasis Editions).

Wilhelmina Salmi (b. 1978) is a writer and art-based performer living and working in Vancouver BC. Her writing has appeared in Quills Magazine. She has performed at Verses Festival, Mashed Poetics, and Summer Dreams Literary Festival and has featured both locally and internationally.