Call for 2027-2029 Poet Laureate

Call for 2027-2029 Poet Laureate - NOW OPEN!
Application Deadline: 11:59pm PST, October 25, 2026

The Poet Laureate is a literary ambassador for the City of Nanaimo. Through their role they raise the profile of literary arts in our community by creating and presenting poetic works and activities that are relevant to our times and respond to our place. Nanaimo’s next Poet Laureate will engage and inspire, bring their own unique voice and experience to collaborate and realize poetry projects for the benefit of our community.

ALL UPCOMING POETRY EVENTS

Poetry in the Harbour featuring Poet Kevin Spenst

Wednesday, September 9 | 7pm | FREE
Piper's Lagoon Lobby, Vancouver Island Conference Centre (Entrance is at 80 Commercial St)
Join Poet Laureate, Neil Surkan, and featured poet Kevin Spenst, along with special guest poets, Dalton Derkson, Erin Zinsky, and Bailey Bellosillo for an evening of poetry at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre.

Kevin Spenst is the author of four full-length books of poetry and 19 chapbooks. An assortment of his lyric essays, interviews with his neighbours, and personal accounts from others make up the collection Stanley Park Manor: a Collective History, out with Anvil Press in the fall of 2026. He is one of the organizers of the Dead Poets Reading Series, has a chapbook review column for subTerrain magazine, occasionally co-hosts Wax Poetic on Vancouver Co-op Radio, and is one of the poetry ambassadors for Vancouver’s 2025-2027 Poet Laureate Elee Kraljii Gardiner. He is one of the Poetry Mentors at The Writer’s Studio at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver on unceded xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territory where he cohabitates with the one and only Cheryl Rossi.

Bailey Bellosillo graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing from Vancouver Island University. She worked as the Arts & Culture Editor for Navigator Student Press. Her work has appeared in Sea & Cedar Magazine and Portal Magazine; for the latter, she served as Poetry Editor in 2025, had her digital artwork published as the cover, another digital artwork published on the inside pages, as well as a nonfiction piece called “Safety in Strangers.” In the following year, she acted as co-Art Director, Gustafson Feature Writer, and Website Designer for Portal 2026.

Erin Zinsky is a poet, writer and artist from Vancouver Island. She has had a short story published in the Sea Cedar Magazine and won the Nanaimo Arts Council’s 2026 Ekphrastic Poetry Competition. She recently participated for the second time in an annual poetry marathon, writing 18 poems in 16 consecutive hours.

dalton derkson is a poet and radio host residing on the traditional territory of the Snuneymuxw First Nation. His work has been published by Discordia Review, Book*Hug Press & more. He is the co-founder of the poetry press, a square house, and is the host of INTO THE VOID on 101.7 CHLY FM. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph.

EXPLORE THE POETRY TRAIL

Neil Surkan (2024-2026)

Neil Surkan is a passionate Nanaimo-based poet and educator who brings a wealth of experience and talent to the role of Poet Laureate. As a Professor in the Department of English at Vancouver Island University (VIU) with two full-length poetry collections, three published chapbooks, and additional publications in the works, Neil has turned his focus to fostering connection with the broader Nanaimo community. Having moved to Nanaimo in 2021, Neil has worked to forge new relationships by hosting poetry series, facilitating poetry workshops and retreats, editing an issue of Nanaimo’s Counterflow magazine, collaborating with the national Poetry in Voice programme, and joining VIU’s Gustafson Committee (in which a distinguished poet is welcomed to the university each year), among other creative pursuits. Neil’s poetry has explored the search for connection and community, queer parenthood, and themes of isolation, anxiety, and hope. His plans for the role involve responding to place in ways that are relevant to our times. This will include the consistent curation of literary events, the creation of his own poems foregrounding the impacts of writing from and about this place, and the facilitation of poetic activities for the community, such as for example, installing public prompts in locations that invite passers-by to poetize their sensations and responses to the city.

Kamal Parmar (2021-2024)

Kamal Parmar served as Poet Laureate from 2021 until 2024, having her term extended. Kamal is a Nanaimo-based poet and writer who has been passionately engaged with writing from a very early age. She experiments often with Haiku poetry and also with creative non-fiction. Her poems explore a range of topics, from childhood recollections of her home in India, to the beauty of the Canadian prairies, to her personal journey, alongside her mother, through Alzheimer’s. Kamal’s work has been published in the UK, Canada and India. Her books include Still Waters (2020), Letters to a Son and a Daughter (2019), In the Rising Mist (2013), Fleeting Shadows (2010) and Filigree and Flint (1997). Kamal has been involved in the life of the cultural community in Nanaimo for many years.

Tina Biello (2017-2020)

Tina Biello was selected as Poet Laureate for her strong connection to the artistic community and passion for the arts. She has a great vision and plan for her new role and is very keen and excited to engage the mainstream community in poetry. As a published poet who has done readings in Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Fanny Bay, Montreal and Italy, she has seen firsthand the importance of getting poetry to more of the population. Most people who attend readings are already poetry aficionados, but Ms. Biello would love to see more people appreciate the power of poetry. She understands the importance of collaborating with other art forms through her experience working with other artists. She also worked with composers and has even had her poems composed into music.

Naomi Beth Wakan (2013-2016)

Naomi Beth Wakan was named Nanaimo's inaugural Poet Laureate from 2013 to 2016. She raised awareness of poetry, literary arts and the positive impact that poetry has on community life. She is a prolific writer and a respected member of the local literary community.

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