A while back, American writer Olivia Cronk invited me to participate in her Peripety and/or Tronies blog, a site that includes, as she offered via email, “established writers with whom i’m friendly & student writers & others who like to think in writing, etc. not fancy, no gate-keeping.” I was curious at the suggestion, a thread I could offer in-between all the other notices of readings, new publications, interviews and the like. In the end, I thought it would be interesting to offer Cronk’s students, already attempting to pay attention to writing and readings and new publications, a glimpse into some of the amazingness of Canadian poetry, especially during the current climate. The “Canadian Poets Series” offers short biographies on contemporary poets working in various corners across the country, each featuring a healthy-sized author biography with links to publications, and poems and interviews online. I like the idea of these posts as being introductory, able to catch a good sense of what each poet has done and is in the midst of, through these rather straightforward biographical posts. We should be celebrating ourselves, after all, with all the self-reliance, self-reflection and dignity our sovereignty provides.
The first thirty-one posts in this ongoing series have landed online since the beginning of March 2025—ryan fitzpatrick, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, Kate Siklosi, Jake Byrne, Tolu Oloruntoba, Maggie Burton, Armand Garnet Ruffo, Ellen Chang-Richardson, Jen Currin, Mark Goldstein, Jessi MacEachern, Pete Smith, Farah Ghafoor, Dale Smith, Oana Avasilichioaei, Darby Minott Bradford, Melanie Dennis Unrau, Gregory Betts, Jérôme Melançon, Stephanie Bolster, Otoniya J Okot Bitek, J.R. Carpenter, Sheri-D Wilson, Conyer Clayton, Gillian Sze, Charlie Petch, Cameron Anstee, Cecily Nicholson, Britta B., Derek Beaulieu and Brandi Bird—with forthcoming posts featuring Alice Burdick, Chris Banks, Misha Solomon, Meredith Quartermain and Beatriz Hausner, among others. We are Canadian! And we are amazing.
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