North Shore Writers Festival: Poetic licence — on approaching and creating poetry

How does poetry find you? Or do you find poetry? How do poets come up with poems, get inspired or build a regular practice?

Join a lively panel of award-winning, celebrated poets to find out how to invite more poetry into our lives. With Sareh Farmand, Trish Gauntlett, Lisa Bagshaw, and Renée Sarojini Saklikar. Presented by the North Shore Writers' Association. 

Renée Sarojini Saklikar is the author of five books, including the award-winning Children of Air India and Listening to the Bees. Her poetry, essays and short fiction have appeared in many literary magazines and anthologies, including Exile Editions, Chatelaine, The Capilano Review, and Pulp Literature. Bramah’s Quest is the latest volume of her epic fantasy in verse, THOT J BAP, The Heart of This Journey Bears All Patterns. She was poet laureate for the City of Surrey 2015–2018 and volunteers for Event magazine, Meet the Presses collective, Surrey International Writers Conference and Poetry in Canada . Renée Sarojini teaches creative writing and editing at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and hosts Lunch Poems at SFU.

Trish Gauntlett is a long-time member of the North Shore Writers’ Association. Many of her poems are about nature, inspired by Vancouver’s beautiful North Shore. Her awards include first prize for short fiction in the Federation of BC Writers literary contest and various prizes for poetry, short fiction and short non-fiction. Trish has published two novels, The Gods of Thought and Memory and The Scales of Anubis, a cozy mystery.

Sareh Farmand’s first book of poems, Pistachios in my Pocket (long listed for the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence In Poetry) follows a narrative arc that tells the story of her family’s escape from Iran and their experiences as first wave Iranian immigrants to Canada. She is currently writing her second book with At Bay Press.

Lisa Bagshaw (moderator) is the producer and host of Bold Leaps on CHEKTV. She is also the speaker coordinator for the North Shore Writers' Association. Lisa writes creative non-fiction and poetry, enjoys being active in the outdoors of the North Shore, and lives with three high-maintenance orchids.

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The North Shore Writers Festival is presented in partnership by North Vancouver City Library, North Vancouver District Public Library, and West Vancouver Memorial Library. This is one of the nine events happening April 12 – 13. View the full schedule.