ARS: 26 January 2022

Wednesday, 26 January 2022 @ 7:00pm PST (Zoom)

Aisha Sasha John
Alexei Perry Cox
+ student writers from Selkirk College, Andrew Wood + Gwen Higgins

Register on Eventbrite to attend
Admission is free or by donation

Alexei Perry Cox is a writer, teacher and organizer. She is the author of Night 3 | اليوم الرابع (Centre for Expanded Poetics), Re:Evolution (Gap Riot Press), Finding Places to Make Places (Vallum), as well as the full length collection Under Her (Insomniac Press). PLACE is forthcoming with Noemi Press. Her poetry and criticism has graced the pages of a wide variety of publications, including Journal Safar (جورنال سفر), Arc Poetry Magazine, Moko Magazine, Carte Blanche and The Georgia Review. At the core of her makings is the belief that we imagine relationally, sometimes with words and sometimes with grace.

Aisha Sasha John medium is energy. A poet and choreographer, Aisha is the author of I have to live. (McClelland & Stewart), finalist for the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize, THOU (Book*hug), finalist for the 2015 Trillium Book Award, and TO STAND AT THE PRECIPICE ALONE AND REPEAT WHAT IS WHISPERED (UDP 2021). Aisha was Writer-in-Residence at the University of Toronto (Scarborough) in 2018 and served as guest faculty for the 2019 Writing Studio residency program at The Banff Centre. Aisha is also the 2019-2022 Dancemakers’ Resident Artist—in 2022 she continues research on the ensemble work DIANA ROSS DREAM.  She holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and a B.A. in African Studies and Semiotics from the University of Toronto.

Andrew Wood is a professional snowboarder with photos published in Kootenay Mountain Culture, Coastal Mountain Life and National Geographic’s “100 Slopes of a Lifetime.” At Quest University Canada he explored the parallels between physical and social risk trying to understand why reading poetry in front of a small group of supportive peers felt so similar to jumping off thirty foot cliffs on his snowboard.As a writer Andrew has published in Coastal Mountain Life, CV Collective and a mixed-medium collaborative arts publication: W.E.R.D. Magazine. Andrew was a student of Leesa Dean’s Manuscript Development course and is a 2021 recipient of an Oxygen Arts Center mentorship program with Susan Andrews Grace for his in-progress first novel: “West of Hope.”

Gwen Higgins is an accountant by day and writer by night who lives in Castlegar with her husband, two teenagers, and a dog. In her spare time, Gwen volunteers with Girl Guides. She’s currently a student in the Selkirk College Creative Writing program and a participant in Oxygen Arts’ mentorship program with Susan Andrews Grace. Gwen loves to read and is never far from her Kindle.

[photo: Left, Alexei Perry Cox; Right, Aisha Sasha John, courtesy the authors]