This event brings together three very accomplished writers with debut poetry collections.

Farzana Doctor’s novels have shown up on many “best of” lists and have earned her several awards, including a Lambda Literary Award and the Dayne Ogilvie Prize. Her debut collection of poems, You Still Look The Same, will be released in May 2022.

Jen Sookfong Lee is the acclaimed author of eight books in various genres. Her debut collection of lyric poems, The Shadow List, is an honest examination of such topics as motherhood, desire and anxiety. The Vancouver Sun praised Lee’s writing as “vividly, gorgeously alive.”

Isabella Wang has been published in over 30 journals with poems shortlisted for The Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award for Poetry and a Pushcart Prize. Pebble Swing, her debut full-length poetry collection, has been nominated for a 2022 Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize.

Mask-wearing is required during the Festival.