All are welcome at the fourth Cathedral for the City Poetry event, where Fiona Tinwei Lam & Russell Thornton will share some of their favourite poems, brilliant lyrics rooted in scenes and sites, memories and epiphanies evocative of Vancouver and North Vancouver (among other places).
Fiona Tinwei Lam has authored three poetry collections and a children’s book. She edited The Bright Well: Contemporary Canadian Poems about Facing Cancer, and co-edited two nonfiction collections. Her work appears in over 45 anthologies, twice in Best Canadian Poetry (2010 and 2020) and in Best Canadian Essays 2024. Her award-winning poetry videos made in collaboration with animators have screened internationally. She teaches at SFU Continuing Studies. Starting in 2022, she served for a three-year term as Vancouver’s sixth poet laureate. Her new book of personal essays is forthcoming with Caitlin Press: Playing by Heart (2027).
Russell Thornton’s work has been recognized by every major poetry prize in Canada. Two Songs: Selected Poems 2000–2025 (Harbour Publishing), his tenth book, brings together representative poetry from nine previous collections, including Birds, Metals, Stones & Rain, which was a finalist for the Governor General's Award, the Raymond Souster Award, and the Dorothy Livesay Prize; TheHundred Lives, a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize; and House Built of Rain, afinalist for the Dorothy Livesay Prize. His book of creative nonfiction, The Tree of My Only Address, is forthcoming in 2027 from Caitlin Press.
Date: Friday, 16th October
Time: 7:00-9:00 (doors open 6:30pm)
Location: The Park Room, Christ Church Cathedral, 690 Burrard Street at Georgia
Admission: by Donation