EVENTS

Last Sunday, we had a great turnout to hear the men. This Sunday it’s the women’s turn. Once again, Poetic Justice will be bringing you a debut feature! Why don’t you come out and show that the women can outdraw the men?!

Featured Poets:  Sonja Grgar  and Aline LaFlamme  (Debut!)

Host:                     Franci Louann

Sonja Grgar

Sonja Grgar is a freelance journalist and creative writer with a passion for the complex and the profound. Most recently she was published in the Family Ties Anthology (Hidden Brook Press, 2014), and was the recipient of the 2014 Writers International Network Canada Literary Ambassador Award.

Sonja’s writing has also appeared in the Globe and Mail and has been broadcast on CFRC 101.9 FM Radio in Kingston, ON as well as on Vancouver’s Co-Op radio. She has also created several magazine-style television stories and documentaries for Shaw TV.

When she is not writing she can be found salsa dancing or waxing poetic about Cuba.

Aline LaFlamme

Aline LaFlamme is a Métis traditional healer and storyteller who only turned to creative writing eight years ago. She is the Founder and Past Executive Director of the Aboriginal Front Door Society, providing traditional healing and culture to Aboriginal street people. She is also an accomplished drum-maker and has helped others create over 1,300 native hand drums.

With a degree in Criminology, Aline designed, developed and delivered culturally-based healing workshops and ceremonies in our penitentiary system. She is also a seasoned workshop presenter and facilitator and continues to participate in numerous multicultural, spiritual and environmental events, often providing opening ceremonies and songs with her Daughters of the Drum group.

In 2007, she was honoured to be asked to light the ceremonial flame for Vancouver’s World Peace Forum. In 2010, Aline was bestowed with another prestigious honour by being named one of Vancouver’s Remarkable Women.

Relatively new to creative writing, she has turned to the genres of short-story writing and poetry. Aline is now working towards her MFA in Creative Writing at UBC as well as completing her first full-length novel.

Well, the holidays are behind us and the New Year lies before us. Happy New Year to all PJ fans! May 2016 be filled with poems, and may their creators all be blessed with gilded pens or keyboards. We kick-start the year with yet another debut feature as we continue bringing you an in(trans?)fusion of new blood (sorry, just got in from the blood donors’ clinic).

Featured Poets:  Robert Martens  and Hendrik Slegtenhorst (Debut!)

Host:                     James Felton

Robert Martens

Robert Martens was born and raised in an ethnic Mennonite village established by refugees from the emerging USSR. He said goodbye to the community when he studied at Simon Fraser University during its years of student protest.

Robert eventually settled down in Abbotsford, where he has co-edited and co-written several regional histories as well as a literary anthology, Half in the Sun. He writes poetry in an effort to re-envision some kind of human community, though he is unsure what that means.

Robert’s most recent publication is little creatures (Ekstasis Editions).

Hendrik Slegtenhorst

Hendrik Slegtenhorst has published Caravaggio’s Dagger (Iguana Books, 2013) and over 100 works in established publications.

He is a past co-chair of the Professional Arts Coalition of Edmonton, a past president of the Federation of British Columbia Writers, and a past director of the Alberta Branch of the Canadian Authors’ Association. He also has held executive positions in local government, heritage, and post-secondary education.

His cultural website is culturalrites.com. Hendrik lives in Vancouver.