Poetry in Transit returns for a 22nd year!
Poetry in Transit returns for a 22nd year!
On the heels of our new transit etiquette campaign featuring eye-catching illustrations from Emily Carr University of Art and Design students, we’re thrilled to bring you some amazing poetry from local poets onboard buses!
It’s all part of Poetry in Transit, an ongoing partnership between TransLink, BC Transit and the Association of Book Publishers of BC to showcase local poets. The project has been running since 1996, making it the longest-running poetry on transit program in Canada.
Poems eligible for the project must be written by BC writers and published in book form by Canadian publishers. Poems are submitted by publishers and selected by a jury. The 2018-19 selections are:
- Susan Alexander, The Dance Floor Tilts (Thistledown Press)
- George Bowering, Some End / West Broadway (New Star Books)
- Kate Braid, Elemental (Caitlin Press)
- Aidan Chafe, Short Histories of Light (McGill-Queen’s University Press)
- Linda Crosfield, Refugium: Poems for the Pacific, ed. Yvonne Blomer (Caitlin Press)
- Leef Evans, Sustenance: Writers from BC and Beyond on the Subject of Food, ed. Rachel Rose (Anvil Press)
- Emily Nilsen, Otolith (Goose Lane Editions)
- Arleen Paré, The Girls with the Stone Faces (Brick Books)
Over the next year, keep your eyes peeled for these poems on buses throughout Metro Vancouver and—for the first time—onboard our outreach bus at community events.
This year’s poetry “interior cards” launch at Word Vancouver, which takes on Sunday, Sept. 30, 2:20 p.m., at Library Square.
Join host Evelyn Lau for poetry readings by Alexander, Chafe, Crosfield, Evans, Nilsen, and David Zieroth. You’re also invited to board our outreach bus to read poetry.
The best thing about taking the bus these days is #PoetryInTransit, it's the first thing I look for now when I get on. It's the Easter egg of verse!
— Maris Otter (Gar Fisher) VE7GR?️? (@Problem_Bear) July 21, 2018
Spot a poem on transit? Tweet a photo and/or your response to the poem with the hashtag #PoetryInTransit! Learn more about the project at poetryintransit.ca.
