Poets Laureate on Social Justice Book Tour: Vancouver, BC

Undocumented: Great Lakes Poets Laureate on Social Justice co-editor Ron Riekki hosts an event featuring two Canadian Parliamentary Poets Laureate: George Bowering, Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate 2002–2004, and Fred Wah, Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate 2011–2013.

Fred Wah studied music and English literature at the University of British Columbia in the early 1960’s where he was one of the founding editors of the poetry newsletter TISH. After many years of teaching in the West Kootenays and at the University of Calgary, he now lives in Vancouver. Diamond Grill (1996) is a biofiction about growing up in a small-town Chinese-Canadian café. High Muck a Muck: Playing Chinese, An Interactive Poem, is available online (http://highmuckamuck.ca/). Some of his collaborations with visual artists were published in Sentenced to Light (2008). Recent books are is a door (2009), Scree: The Collected Earlier Poems 1962-1991, and beholden: a poem as long as the river, a collaboration with Rita Wong (2018).

George Bowering, Canada’s first Poet Laureate, was born in the Okanagan Valley. After serving as an aerial photographer in the Royal Canadian Air Force, Bowering earned a BA in English and an MA in history at the University of British Columbia, where he became one of the co-founders of the avant-garde poetry magazine TISH. He has taught literature at the University of Calgary, the University of Western Ontario, and Simon Fraser University, and he continues to act as a Canadian literary ambassador at international conferences and readings. A distinguished novelist, poet, editor, professor, historian, and tireless supporter of fellow writers, Bowering has authored more than eighty books, including works of poetry, fiction, autobiography, biography and youth fiction. His writing has also been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, and Romanian. Bowering has twice won the Governor General’s Award, Canada’s top literary prize.

This event is taking place on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tseil-Waututh Nations.

Massy Books’ downstairs event space is accessible! You can view the floorplan here: http://www.massybooks.com/accessibility/
Please feel free to reach out with any inquiries.

Massy Books is easily accessible by transit! Close to the 22, 3, 8 and 19 bus lines at Main and Georgia/Gore and Georgia. There is metered street parking along Georgia, or lot parking at the Sun Wah Centre around the corner (268 Keefer)