Join us for an e vening of eco‑poetry exploring our connection to the natural world\ , featuring the launch of two new books by local authors and storytellers.
\nThe third water-focused anthology edited by Yvonne Blomer\, S ublime: Poems for Vanishing Ice\, exemplifies &ldquo\;sublime&rdquo\; as both verb and adjective: these are poems that skate\, drink\, stomp\, crush\, and dive. Poets from across Turtle Island explore what it means to enter into conversation with ice\, grappling with the fissures that form into ever-expanding crevasses across Earth&rsquo\;s most ancient of water systems. \;
\nIn Calling It Back to Me\, Laurie D. Grah am offers a deeply personal and clear-eyed witnessing of familial history. This collection&rsquo\;s fractured lines\, time weathered yet alive with detail\, reflect a family&rsquo\;s knowledge broken by global immigration and memory loss\, both individual and collective. The result is a courageo us reckoning with the legacy of leaving home.
\nEach of the five poe ts will read their contribution to Sublime and from their own new or forth coming work.
\nPresented in partnership with Words Worth Books a nd The Creek Collective.
\nLaurie D. Graham grew up in Treaty 6 Territory\, outside of am iskwacî\;wâ\;skahikan (Edmonton\, Alberta)\, and she is a new re turn resident of Tkaronto/Toronto\, where she is a poet\, an editor\, and the publisher of Brick magazine. Her first book\, Rove\, was shor tlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for best first book of poetr y in Canada. Her second and third books\, Settler Education and < em>Fast Commute\, were both nominated for Ontario&rsquo\;s Trillium A ward for Poetry. Her newest collection\, Calling It Back to Me\, came out in March 2026 with McClelland &\; Stewart.
\nGeoff Martin is a writer\, freelance ed itor\, and arts organizer based in Kitchener\, in the Grand River Watershe d. His personal and environmental essays have appeared in Creative Nonfict ion\, The New Quarterly\, Literary Review of Canada\, Boulevard\, and The Common\, among others. He is also a co-founder of The Creek Collective\, a group of artists making interdisciplinary work in response to&mdash\;and alongside&mdash\;Schneider Creek.
\nTanis MacDonald is the author of seven books of poetry an d nonfiction including Straggle: Adventure in Walking While Female. She is Professor Emeritus at Wilfrid Laurier University and a full-time free-range literary animal. Her next book\, Tall\, Grass\, Girl\ , about growing up adopted on the prairies\, will be published by Book*hug in October 2026.
\nSu san Wismer is a queer poet\, a mother\, grandmother\, gardener\, dancer\, hiker. Hag Dances\, was published by At Bay Press in 2025. Ha nd Shadows\, a chapbook\, documents a collaborative pandemic project (Wintergreen Press\, 2024). Susan lives on the south shore of Manidoo-gitc higami (South Georgian Bay) in Ontario and is honoured to have a poem incl uded in Sublime.
\nPenn K emp is a poet\, playwright\, and performer in London ON. Her most recent c ollection is Colour Fielding (2026)\, a companion volume to Ordin ary/Moving (2025). The League of Canadian Poets honored her with their Ina ugural Lifetime Achievement Award\, 2025.
\nPhotogra phy Notice: Please note that photographs and videos may be taken at this event and may be broadcast\, reproduced\, and/or made available in print or online. For individual or small group photos\, staff will make a ttendees aware of their presence and will ask permission before taking pho tos. \;
\nFor larger public events\, please note that by attendi ng\, you are consenting to the use of your appearance\, image\, and voice in print or digital productions created by the Waterloo Public Library for promotional use only. Please speak to library staff at the event if you&r squo\;d like to be excluded from any photo/video. \;
\nS taff: Maddy
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