On Thursday, March 27, join us at Stride Gallery for an evening of poetry and fundraising for Gaza Sunbirds, a Palestinian-led mutual aid organization. Hosted by Paula Turcotte, we will have readings by Ryanne Kap, Ben Berman Ghan, Amy LeBlanc, Samantha Jones, and Skylar Kay. We will also have signed books by various authors by Joshua Whitehead, Kirti Bhadresa and more for sale by donation.
Samantha Jones is a poet, editor, and earth scientist based in Moh’kins’tsis (Calgary, Alberta). She is Black Canadian and white settler with roots in Nova Scotia, Québec, and Ontario. Her poetry collection, Attic Rain, is available from NeWest Press. Sam is currently a University of Calgary PhD Candidate researching Arctic carbon cycling.
Ryanne Kap is a Chinese Canadian writer from Strathroy, Ontario. Their work has been featured in Augur, Canthius, Grain, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Their most recent chapbook is failed (after)lives (The Blasted Tree, 2024). You can find them online at www.ryannekap.com or on X/Instagram @ryannekap.
Ben Berman Ghan is a PhD Candidate in English and creative writing at the University of Calgary. He is the author of the short story collection What We See in the Smoke (Crowsnest Books 2019) and the novel The Years Shall Run Like Rabbits (Buckrider Books 2024). His prose, poetry, and essays have previously been published in Clarkesworld Magazine, Strange Horizons, Filling Station Magazine, The Blasted Tree Publishing Co., Pinhole Poetry, and The Ancilliary Review of Books. Find him at Inkstainedwreck.ca or @inkstainedwreck.Bsky.social on Bluesky.
Amy LeBlanc is a PhD Candidate in English and Creative Writing. Her next poetry collection, I used to live here, is forthcoming with Porcupine’s Quill in April 2025. Her work has appeared in Room, Fiddlehead, and Canadian Literature among others.
Skylar Kay is an Albertan poet and grad school dropout. Her debut collection, Transcribing Moonlight (Frontenac House 2022) was well-received, earning a shortlist nod for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for Poetry, and won the BPAA’s Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry.