Welcome! The Poetry Gabriola Society hosts the Poetry Gabriola Festival each November, the Words and Music Concert Series, and has initiated a national commissioning project called Canada Speaks: New Literary Performance Works By Twelve Canadian Artists.

Upcoming Events

Don McKay - Award-Winning Poet

Saturday February 13 at 7:30 pm
at The Roxy on Gabriola Island (North Road next to Suzy's) 

Tickets: by donation at the door

Don Mckay also reads Sunday, February 14, at 3pm for ArtSpring on Saltspring Island, and Monday, February 15 at 4:00pm at the VIU Library Writing Centre.

Don McKay’s books of poetry include Birding, or desire (1983), Night Field (1991), Apparatus (1997), Another Gravity (2000) and Strike/Slip (2006). Camber, a selected poetry, appeared in 2004. Five of his books have been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, and two of them—Night Fields and Another Gravity—received that award. He has been nominated for the Griffin award three times, and received it for Strike/Slip in 2007. Since 1975 he has been connected with Brick Books as an editor and publisher. After teaching English and Creative Writing at the universities of Western Ontario and New Brunswick for twenty seven years, he now writes and edits fulltime. From 1991 to 1997 he edited The Fiddlehead, and he has served as a workshop leader for institutions and writers’ groups. At present he is the Associate Director for poetry at the Banff Centre. His abiding interest in natural history and the environment has led to two books on the poetics of wilderness—Vis a Vis (2001) and Deactivated West 100 (2005)

Don Mckay has lived all over Canada, and currently makes his home in St. John’s Newfoundland. In 2009 he was named to the Order of Canada.


This is the second in a series of readings curated by Marilyn Bowering and produced in partnership with the Poets On Campus Series. 

This readings series was made possible by the support of the Canada Council for The Arts.

Red Chamber

Friday, February 19 2010 at 7:00pm
At the Phoenix Auditorium at the Haven, 240 Davis Rd

Tickets $20 available at Artworks or online (see below)

One of the leading Chinese string ensembles in North America—or anywhere, really—Red Chamber is marked by serious scholarship and an equally intense sense of joie de vivre. Led by Vancouver resident Mei Han—a virtuosic performer on the harp-like zheng and an authority on early Taoist music—the group also includes Guilian Liu, Zhimin Yu, and Geling Jiang on an assortment of plucked string instruments including the pipa, ruan, and sanxian. Together, their repertoire spans centuries, encompassing transcriptions from the Tang Dynasty (618-907), modern compositions that reflect China's ancient heritage, and new cross-cultural forms that touch on bluegrass and jazz. The four members of Red Chamber play historic instruments, but their approach is contemporary—and captivating.

Only $20.00 * The Phoenix Auditorium at the Haven *

Canada Speaks! New Literary Performance Works by Twelve Canadian Artists

Poetry Gabriola Receives Arts Partners Commissioning Grant 

The Poetry Gabriola Society is very pleased to announce the receipt of an award from Arts Partners in Creative Development (APCD) to create Canada Speaks: New Literary Performance Works by Twelve Canadian Artists. The award of $24,000 will be used to commission twelve of the nation’s preeminent poets, spoken word and storytelling artists to create new works that will be presented from coast to coast. One of only 17 recipients from coast to coast, Poetry Gabriola is working hard on this national project and is looking forward to an exciting year! The artists who will be commissioned for this project are:

• Fortner Anderson, Montreal
• David Bateman, Vancouver/Toronto
• bill bissett, Vancouver and Toronto
• Ivan Coyote, Vancouver
• Drek Daa, Winnipeg
• Ian Ferrier, Montreal
• Kaie Kellough, Montreal
• Cheryl l'Hirondelle, Vancouver
• Evalyn Parry, Toronto
• Robert Priest, Toronto
• Richard Van Camp, Vancouver/Ft Smith, NWT
• Sheri-D Wilson, Calgary

Canada Speaks will be curated by Poetry Gabriola Artistic Director Hilary Peach, and the pieces will premiere on Gabriola Island in 2010. All of the commissioned artists are alumni of the Poetry Gabriola Festival. We think it’s extraordinary that a rural organization can create a national initiative that will impact artists across the country and influence the direction of an emerging genre. Twelve Gabriola artists will also be invited to perform their work at the 2010 event.