Thank you to the three judges for their time and dedication in selecting the shortlisted and winning poems. Click here to read their remarks about the poems.
(Photo credit: Danny Zavarise)
Bonnie Nish is Executive Director of Word Vancouver and Pandora’s Collective Outreach Society. She has a Masters in Arts Education from Simon Fraser University and a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from the University of British Columbia where she teaches. Bonnie’s first book of poetry, Love and Bones, was released by Karma Press in 2013. Her next book, Concussion and Mild TBI: Not Just Another Headline, was published by Lash and Associates in 2016. Her latest book, Cantata in Two Voices, co-written with Jude Neal was released by Ekstasis Editions. She lives in Vancouver British Columbia, Canada.
David Ly is the author of Mythical Man (shortlisted for the 2021 ReLit Poetry Award) and Dream of Me as Water, both published under the Anstruther Books imprint at Palimpsest Press. He co-edited Queer Little Nightmares: an Anthology of Monstrous Fiction and Poetry (Arsenal Pulp Press, 2022) with Daniel Zomparelli. David’s poems have appeared in various publications such as PRISM international, The Puritan, Arc Poetry Magazine, and Best Canadian Poetry 2021. David currently lives on unceded Coast Salish territory (Vancouver, B.C.).
Rachel Rose’s fiction debut, The Octopus Has Three Hearts, was published by Douglas & McIntyre in 2021, and was longlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize. She is the author of four collections of poetry, including Marry & Burn, which received a 2016 Pushcart Prize, and was a finalist for a Governor General’s Award. Her memoir, The Dog Lover Unit: Lessons in Courage from the World’s K9 Cops, was shortlisted for the 2018 Arthur Ellis award for best non-fiction crime book. A former fellow at The University of Iowa’s International Writing Program, she was Poet Laureate of Vancouver from 2014-2017.
Fiona Tinwei Lam 