This unique poetry prize celebrates the legacy of Downtown Eastside poet-activist Muriel Marjorie by requiring community activism by entrants as its only submission fee. Join us as the winners of the fourth annual Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize are announced and the winning authors read their poems.
Location: Online
Type: Poetry, Reading
Sponsored by: Word Vancouver · Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize · VPL
Host: Isabella Mori
Readers: Downtown Eastside 1st prize “The Cost of Home” Ishkode Manidoowag
1st prize “Just for Today” Jane Harris
2nd prize “The Orchard” Kamila Rina
“Fortuna’s Choice This Conversation Never Happened” Natalie Lanoville
Honorable mentions “Fraser River 1973” Marie Cocking
“The wings to be cut” Diem Okoye
“First Born” Antoinette Cheung
“On Holding the Line” Ishkode Manidoowag
About The Host
Isabella Mori
Muriel’s Journey Poetry Prize honours the memory of Muriel Marjorie, an Indigenous social justice activist, poet, and spoken word artist who spent a lot of time in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. In her work, she always explored new ways of expressing herself, always talked and wrote about what’s urgent and important. The prize celebrates lively, outspoken ideas and the poets’ sense of community – the “entry fee” consists of poets showing how they contribute to their community. This year’s reading features winners Richard Sitoski, Phoenix Winter, Atma Frans and Eileen Wiscombe, and honorable mentions CE Hoffman, Phyllis Cherret, Diana Hayes and Jessica McMillan. Judges were Susan Cormier, Candie Tanaka, and George Honesty Jr. Each year, Three Ocean Press publishes a chapbook, "Fire From The Heart". The attached image features the 2023 chapbook. MC: Isabella Mori, prize founder.
About The Readers
Jane Harris
Jane Harris is a Canadian poet, essayist, and author. She was awarded an Alberta Literary Award for short non-fiction and placed third in the Susan Crean Surrey Muse non-fiction competition. Jane is the author of two creative non-fiction books, and her essays appear in anthologies published by Tidewater Press and University of Alberta press. She lives on Treaty Seven Territory. In addition to writing, she supports her community as a loving mother and grandmother, by volunteering with local community organizations such as her church, and by speaking up on issues such as poverty and civic engagement.
Antoinette Cheung
Antoinette Cheung (張冬眉) is on a mission to rewild her imagination after spending too many years immersed in corporate speak. As an immigrant from Hong Kong whose main language has become English, she is energized by the voices of writers embracing their hyphenated identities. She writes primarily short-form poetry and personal essays. In 2025, she was part of the TD Emerging Writer Mentorship Program. Before the Muriel's Journey Poetry Prize, her poems have been awarded Top Winner in the Vancouver Cherry Blossom Festival Haiku Invitational (2023, 2025), and appeared in Ricepaper, Poetry Pause, and international haiku journals/anthologies. Antoinette was previously co-editor for the online journals Prune Juice and confluence, which celebrate the art of Japanese short-form poetry within a contemporary English-language context.
