Join poet, editor, and writer-in-residence Kevin Spenst in conversation with acclaimed author and editor Betsy Warland as they explore alternative forms of writing, literary experimentation, and the evolving relationship between language, memory, and place. Drawing from Spenst’s forthcoming work Gathered Together in the Stanley Park Manor: A Collective History (Anvil Press), the conversation will examine how personal stories, archival fragments, and community voices come together to illuminate the layered histories of shared spaces.

Kevin will also discuss his residency at UBC Library, including his creative practice, community engagement, and plans to work with students and writers through workshops and conversations.

Betsy Warland (moderator)

Author, editor, mentor, and teacher, Betsy Warland has published 13 books of creative nonfiction and poetry. The second edition of Warland’s 2010 book of essays on writing, Breathing the Page—Reading the Act of Writing (Cormorant Books), came out with ten new essays in 2023. Warland’s 1987 book, serpent (w)rite, (Coach House Press), was likely one of the foreruners of CNF. Along with her BA in Visual Art, Warland draws upon music composition strategies. In 2022, a street opera composed by Lloyd Burritt, based on her 2016 CNF book, Oscar of Between, was premiered in Vancouver. Over the past few years, Warland has been working with Vancouver writers with lived experience of mental health issues. A Westcoast first: Off the Map, co-edited Seema Shah, Kate Bird and Warland, will be published in June, 2025 by Bell Press. Warland received the City of Vancouver Mayor’s Award for Literary Excellence in 2016. In 2021, an annual national prize, The VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award, is announced yearly at the Vancouver Writers Festival.

Location: HSBC Hall, UBC Robson Square (800 Robson St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 3B7).  

Advance registration is not required. Please arrive early, as seating will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.