Episode 5: Fiona Tinwei Lam on Poetry as Ritual, Film, and Public Art
The Poet Laureate Podcast with host Kyeren Regehr

In this episode, former Vancouver Poet Laureate Fiona Tinwei Lam joins Kyeren Regehr to explore poetry’s power to honor history, heal collective wounds, and engage the public in fresh and unexpected ways.

Fiona begins with her moving poem “Gift”, which commemorates the Uda family’s donation of 1,000 cherry trees to Vancouver—most of which were only planted after the family’s forced internment during WWII. From there, the conversation blossoms into questions of memory, reconciliation, and poetry as a kind of ritual or ceremony.

We also dive into Fiona’s groundbreaking City Poems Project, which brought poets and student filmmakers together to create poetry films woven into Vancouver’s public spaces and a geolocated app. She shares her vision for poetry videos as an accessible art form that combines word, image, and sound to tap into a poem’s unconscious resonance, and she reflects on her own award-winning work in the medium.

Listeners will also hear “Splash”, a collaborative poem written with Grade 5/6 students about Vivian Jung, the first Chinese Canadian teacher hired by the Vancouver School Board, whose courage helped desegregate public pools. Fiona speaks about the role of ancestry, migration, music, and climate concerns in shaping her poetic voice, and she closes with “Covenant”, a searing erasure poem that reclaims language from a racist property covenant.

This conversation is a testament to poetry’s ability to cross mediums, uncover buried histories, and create spaces of beauty, justice, and connection.

The Poet Laureate Podcast is recorded in studio at Haus of Owl: Creation Labs—supporting artists to create the best work of their careers. Original music by Chris Regehr. To learn more or reach out, visit www.thepoetlaureatepodcast.com or find us on Instagram @poetlaureatepodcast & [email protected].

We acknowledge with gratitude that this work was created on the unceded homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.

Poet Laureate Podcast – Episode Four
Steven Ross Smith |  Writing Like Jazz 

In this fourth episode, Kyeren Regehr welcomes Steven Ross Smith — poet, mentor, arts leader, and former Poet Laureate of Banff. One of Canada’s great poetic experimenters, Steven speaks about improvisation and constraint, the sonic body of the poem, and his long-running Flutter Tongue series. With clarity and generosity, he reflects on risk, coherence, and the question of what poetry is — and might yet become.

The episode features three readings, including an untitled poem from Fluttertongue Book Three: Disarray, a lush invocation of oceanic memory and language, and “How Is,” a piece that balances wit, resistance, and political undercurrent.

This episode offers a reflective pace — Steven’s words are full of nuance and deep listening, and we’re grateful to share them.

This episode is generously supported by Sage Hill Writing, one of Canada’s leading providers of learning opportunities for professional and emerging creative writers. Based in Saskatchewan, Sage Hill offers retreats and programs that provide writers at all stages of development with tools, community, and mentorship to move their writing forward. At Sage Hill, your writing matters. Learn more at sagehillwriting.ca.

Books by Steven Ross Smith are available at fluttertongue.ca. The Green Rose (with Phil Hall) is available from  above/ground press and Lakeshore Press.

The Poet Laureate Podcast is recorded in studio at Haus of Owl: Creation Labs—supporting artists to create the best work of their careers. Original music by Chris Regehr. To learn more or reach out, visit www.thepoetlaureatepodcast.com or find us on Instagram @poetlaureatepodcast & [email protected].

We acknowledge with gratitude that this work was created on the unceded homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.

In this third episode Kyeren Regehr welcomes John Barton—poet, editor, essayist, and the fifth Poet Laureate of Victoria, BC. With unflinching grace and poetic precision, John speaks to the evolution of queer poetics in Canada, the intimate distances of influence and his evolving relationship with formal constraint. Featuring three poems, including the Frank O’Hara–inspired “In Eggs and Love.” Recorded in Victoria, BC, on the Lekwungen homelands at Haus of Owl.

Please note: this is our longest episode so far, and we couldn’t bear to cut it. John’s stories and poems invite deep listening, and we hope you’ll settle in and take the time. We’re honoured to hold space for this conversation in its fullness, especially during Pride month. 

This episode is generously supported by The Malahat Review. A cornerstone of Canadian letters since 1967, The Malahat Review is published quarterly by the University of Victoria and showcases exceptional contemporary literary writing from Canada and beyond. The Malahat Review has been a vital space for literary excellence and discovery for nearly six decades. You can support this iconic Canadian literary journal by subscribing at malahatreview.ca.

John Barton (https://www.john-barton.ca) is a poet, essayist, editor and writing mentor. His collections and chapbooks of poetry include Hymn, For the Boy with the Eyes of the Virgin: Selected Poems, Polari, Lost Family: A Memoir, which was nominated for the 2021 Derek Walcott Prize for Poetry, Stopwatch, and Compulsory Figures, forthcoming from Caitlin Press in September 2025. 

His other books include Seminal: The Anthology of Canada’s Gay-Male Poets, The Malahat Review at Fifty, We Are Not Avatars: Essays, Memoirs, Manifestos, The Essential Douglas LePan, which won a 2020 eLit Award, The Essential Derk Wynand, and Best Canadian Poetry 2023. 

Sonnets from Lost Family have been set to music and performed as Coda for the Victims at VerseFest in Ottawa, with the support of Qu’Art, in March 2023, and as Chosen Family by the Chronos Vocal Ensemble in Edmonton to settings composed by Stuart Beatch in January 2024. 

The recipient of three Archibald Lampman Awards, a CBC Literary Award, and a National Magazine Award, he was made a life member of the League of Canadian Poets in 2021. Co-editor of Ottawa’s Arc Poetry Magazine for thirteen years and editor of The Malahat Review for fourteen years, he sits on Grain Magazine’s advisory board and was a member of Plenitude’s inaugural advisory board. 

Born in Edmonton and raised in Calgary, John lives in Victoria, where from 2019 to 2022, he was the city’s first male and first queer poet laureate.

The Poet Laureate Podcast is recorded in studio at Haus of Owl: Creation Labs—supporting artists to create the best work of their careers. Original music by Chris Regehr. To learn more or reach out, visit www.thepoetlaureatepodcast.com or find us on Instagram @poetlaureatepodcast & [email protected].

We acknowledge with gratitude that this work was created on the unceded homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.

In this second episode, Kyeren Regehr welcomes Iranian-Canadian poet and multi-genre writer Hollay Ghadery, inaugural Poet Laureate of Scugog Township, who speaks with deep honesty and intelligence about poetry as a practice of receptivity, form as a map, and writing as a means of reclaiming enchantment. Featuring three poems, including Braids. Recorded in Victoria, BC, on the Lekwungen homelands at Haus of Owl.

This episode is generously sponsored by Munro’s Books. A literary landmark in downtown Victoria, Munro’s has been a sanctuary for readers and writers alike for over sixty years. Munro’s Books ships internationally: books by Hollay Ghadery can be ordered from munrobooks.com.

Hollay Ghadery is an Iranian-Canadian multi-genre writer living in Ontario on Anishinaabe land. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph.

Fuse, her memoir of mixed-race identity and mental health, was released by Guernica Editions in 2021 and won the 2023 Canadian Bookclub Award for Nonfiction/Memoir. Her poetry collection, Rebellion Box, was published by Radiant Press in 2023, and her short fiction collection, Widow Fantasies, came out with Gordon Hill Press in 2024. Her debut novel, The Unraveling of Ou, is forthcoming with Palimpsest Press in 2026, and her children’s book, Being with the Birds, will be released by Guernica Editions in 2027.

Hollay is a host on The New Books Network and a co-host on HOWL on CIUT 89.5 FM. She is also a book publicist, the Regional Chair of the League of Canadian Poets, and co-chair of the League’s BIPOC committee, as well as the Poet Laureate of Scugog Township. Learn more about Hollay at hollayghadery.com.

The Poet Laureate Podcast is recorded in studio at Haus of Owl: Creation Labs—supporting artists to create the best work of their careers. Original music by Chris Regehr. To learn more or reach out, visit www.thepoetlaureatepodcast.com or find us on Instagram @poetlaureatepodcast & [email protected].

We acknowledge with gratitude that this work was created on the unceded homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.

The Poet Laureate Podcast is recorded in studio at Haus of Owl: Creation Labs—supporting artists to create the best work of their careers. Original music by Chris Regehr. To learn more or reach out, visit www.thepoetlaureatepodcast.com or find us on Instagram @poetlaureatepodcast & [email protected].

We acknowledge with gratitude that this work was created on the unceded homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.

In this debut episode, Kyeren Regehr welcomes acclaimed Métis poet Lorri Neilsen Glenn who speaks with clarity and grace about writing as a way to think, to listen, and to find connection across time and experience. Featuring three poems, including Writing Has Always Felt Like Praying. Recorded in Victoria, BC, on the Lekwungen homelands at Haus of Owl. 

This episode is generously sponsored by Munro's Books. A literary landmark in downtown Victoria, Munro’s has been a sanctuary for readers and writers alike for over sixty years. Munro's Books ships internationally: books by Lorri Neilsen Glenn can be ordered from munrobooks.com

Lorri Neilsen Glenn is a Canadian poet, ethnographer, essayist and educator. Born in Winnipeg, and raised on the Prairies, she moved to Nova Scotia in 1983. Neilsen Glenn is the author and/or contributing editor of fifteen titles of poetry, creative nonfiction and scholarly works.

She was the first Métis Poet Laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and is a Professor Emerita at Mount Saint Vincent University. An award-winning teacher and researcher, Lorri has served on juries for the Canada Council, CBC literary awards and numerous provincial and national book prizes. 

Lorri's poetry has been adapted several times for libretti and her essays and poems appear in numerous anthologies and literary journals. She was a recipient of Halifax's Women of Excellence award, has had appointments as Writer in Residence across Canada and served as President of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia. Lorri has mentored writers across Canada and in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Greece, and Chile. She divides her time between Halifax and Rose Bay, Nova Scotia. 

The Poet Laureate Podcast is recorded in studio at Haus of Owl: Creation Labs—supporting artists to create the best work of their careers. Original music by Chris Regehr. To learn more or reach out, visit www.thepoetlaureatepodcast.com or find us on Instagram @poetlaureatepodcast & [email protected].

We acknowledge with gratitude that this work was created on the unceded homelands of the lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples.