Royal City Literary Arts Society presents
POETRY IN THE PARK 2026
In partnership with Arts New West and City of New Westminster
Every Wednesday night from July 15 – August 19 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM. Each weekly session will feature 2 poets and an Open Mic.
Wednesday JULY 22
Featuring Aidan Chafe and Christina Shah
Host: Marlo Browne
Where? Centennial Lodge, Queen’s Park, New Westminster
When? Wed evenings JULY 15-AUGUST 19 | 6:30pm | Open Mic Sign Up 6:15pm
Why? Because poetry is alive and well in New West!
FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY EVENT
Everyone is welcome!
Aidan Chafe is the author of the poetry collections Gospel Drunk (University of Alberta Press) and Short Histories of Light (McGill-Queen’s University Press), that was longlisted for the 2019 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. He has also published two chapbooks Right Hand Hymns (Frog Hollow Press) and Sharpest Tooth (Anstruther Press). He is the recipient of the ONLY POEMS’ 2025 “Poet ofthe Year” prize. He lives and works on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver, BC).
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Christina Shah lives in New Westminster and works in heavy industry, where she drinks from the firehose of knowledge. Her poetry has appeared in numerous Canadian literary journals. Her work has been shortlisted for the Fiddlehead’s 2021 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize and has appeared in Best Canadian Poetry 2023. She is one-fifth of the Harbour Centre 5 poetry collective, whose chapbook, Brine, was released in 2022. Her first video poem, “rig veda” (in collaboration with videographer
Mark Mushet), was translated into Spanish and screened internationally. rig rig veda, her first solo chapbook (Anstruther Press), received an honourable mention for the bpNichol Chapbook Award in 2024. if: prey, then: huntress is her first full-length poetry collection.
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Marlo Browne is an award-winning Barbadian multi-hyphenate artist who has published 5 poetry books and currently lives in Langley. Marlo has performed and featured at many events and has converted some of his poetry into short films. To date, he has
released three short films- ‘I'm Sorry’ in 2023 and ‘Dear Single Mom’ and ‘Invisible’ in 2025. The first film ‘I’m Sorry’ was the runner up in the Short Film category of the Langley City Film festival in 2023. The second short film, ‘Dear Single Mom’ won a Bronze Award at the National Independence Festival of Creative Arts in Barbados in 2025.
His fourth and fifth poetry collections, entitled ‘The Life and Times of a Poet’ and ‘Journal of a Black Man’, both earned Gold Book Awards from Literary Titan in May and September 2025 respectively.
Bridging the Gap 2025
RCLAS Co-operative Poem, National Poetry Month, April 2025
© 2025 by the poets
Compiled by Janet Kvammen, New Westminster Poet Laureate
18 contributing poets in order of appearance:
Candice James Alan Girling
Jerena Tobiasen
Susan McCaslin
Jessica Lee McMillan
Angus Pratt
Karen McLaughlin Freeborn
Cynthia Sharp
Isabella Mori
Julia Schoennagel
Chelsea Comeau
Emily Molinari
Jude Neale
Jennifer Getsinger
Angela Kenyon
H.W. Bryce
Alan Hill
Janet Kvammen
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