Award-winning poet Rachel Rose named Vancouver’s fourth poet laureate
“I am extremely honoured,” says Rose, who most recently won a 2014 Pushcart Prize. “It is very exciting to be given the opportunity to continue to build on the wonderful work of my predecessors and raise the status of poetry in the everyday consciousness of Vancouverites.”
Rose is the winner of numerous awards for her poetry, fiction and non-fiction, and has published poems, short stories and essays in Canada, the U.S., New Zealand and Japan. Her most recent collection, Song and Spectacle, won the 2013 Audre Lorde Poetry Prize in the U.S. and the Pat Lowther Award in Canada. She also wrote the libretto for When the Sun Comes Out, Canada's first lesbian opera, which premiered in Vancouver in 2013 and Toronto in 2014.
As part of her three-year tenure as poet laureate, Rose will champion poetry, language and the arts in Vancouver and will connect established and emerging poets with chefs, urban farmers and other individuals engaged in nourishing citizens to create a collaborative book of poetry inspired by food.
“In a city as diverse as Vancouver, there are few subjects that engage us all,” says Rose. “But all of us break bread together, or cook beans or fry noodles.
“Poetry inspired by food invites poets to write provocative work about the environment, class, immigration and occupation, but it also allows us to celebrate our city's strengths in a way that brings us together. I look forward to welcoming everyone to the table.”
Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson will formally introduce Rachel Rose as Vancouver’s fourth poet laureate at the Mayor’s Arts Awards on Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 6:30 p.m. at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre.
More information about the poet laureate program is available at vancouververse.ca.
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About Vancouver’s poet laureate program:
The poet laureate is an honorary position that was established by Vancouver City Council in December 2006 to honour and celebrate the contribution of literature and poetry to life in Vancouver. The position is funded by a generous endowment established by Dr. Yosef Wosk and matched by the B.C. Arts Renaissance Fund. More information about the poet laureate program is available at vancouververse.ca.