POETRY IN THE PARK 2026
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.
OPENING NIGHT JULY 15
Featuring Jude Neale and Raoul Fernandes
Host: Janet Kvammen, Poet Laureate
Special Guest: Tristan Wright, Qayqayt First Nation
�� 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!
More about our guests:
Tristan Wright is an illustrator from Qayqayt First Nation, located in New Westminster.
She creates work that pushes the boundaries of what urban Indigenous art can be. Her
work is an amalgamation of her inspirations, from video games and online fandom.
Currently, she is selling her work online and developing a portfolio that demonstrates
her research and world building skills. Through her work, Tristan hopes she conveys
moments that stand out from stories, communicating through visuals what speaks to
others. Having just graduated, she plans to use her portfolio to enter the world of
Concept art and Design in Vancouver.
Raoul Fernandes lives with his wife, two sons, and orange tabby on the traditional
territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver, BC).
His first collection of poems, Transmitter and Receiver (Nightwood Editions, 2015) won
the Dorothy Livesay Award and Debut-litzer Award for Poetry in 2016. He is the Poetry
Editor for EVENT, one of the organizers of the Dead Poets Reading Series and works in public libraries in Vancouver.
Jude Neale is the inaugural Poet Laureate of Bowen Island, a Canadian poet, vocalist,
spoken word performer, and occasional disturber of the literary peace.
She has published fourteen books, with more waiting in the wings, and her work has
been recognized across Canada and beyond, including nominations for the Pat Lowther
Memorial Award and the National Magazine Awards. Her poems travel through grief,
wonder, memory, family, the body, the natural world, and the strange little miracles that
keep us alive despite ourselves.
A lifelong performer, Jude brings music, humour, and a certain unruly tenderness to the
page and the stage. As Poet Laureate, she believes poetry belongs everywhere: in
libraries and theatres, yes, but also at kitchen tables, on ferries, in grocery lines, at
celebrations, in sorrow, and wherever human beings are trying to say what matters.
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
New Membership & Renewals here:
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