Vancouver's Poet Laureate

The Poet Laureate, “the people’s poet,” is an honorary position with a two-year term. Serving as a champion for poetry, language, and the arts, the Laureate creates a unique literary project and represents the City as Laureate during readings and public poetry events. 

Funded through a generous endowment by Dr. Yosef Wosk, OBC, the position was established in 2006 by the City of Vancouver in partnership with the Vancouver Public Library and The Vancouver Writers’ Festival.

What's happening2022-2024 Poet Laureate

Fiona Tinwei Lam

Photo of Fiona Tinwei Lam

Biography

Fiona Tinwei Lam has authored 3 poetry collections and a children's book, and produced several award-winning poetry videos that have screened at festivals all over the world. Besides editing the anthology, The Bright Well: Contemporary Canadian Poems on Facing Cancer, she has co-edited 2 nonfiction anthologies.

Shortlisted for the City of Vancouver Book Award and thrice selected for BC’s Poetry in Transit, her work appears in over 40 anthologies, including the Best Canadian Poetry series. A former lawyer, she has an MFA in creative writing from UBC. She currently teaches at SFU's Continuing Studies.


Poet Laureate project

Fiona Tinwei Lam’s 4-stage City Poems Project has involved community outreach to encourage the generation of new poems and poetry videos to foster greater understanding about significant historical, cultural and ecological sites on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples now known as the City of Vancouver.

For more detailed information about each stage and to see the 27 finalists poems as well as all 33 submitted post-secondary poetry videos, refer to the City Poems Project 

Contest winners announced

On June 11, the winners of the Vancouver Poet Laureate’s City Poems Contest 2023 were announced and screened at a ceremony at the Museum of Vancouver. All the poetry videos can still be viewed on the VPL’s YouTube playlist  for the contest.

Learn more about the 2023 City Poems Contest winners

Schools in the Vancouver school district may book a one-hour workshop with the Vancouver Poet Laureate through the Poet in Class program with Poetry in Voice, or by contacting Fiona directly at vancouverpoetlaureate6@gmail.com.

Contact us

Miko Hoffman
Cultural Planner
miko.hoffman@vancouver.ca
604-673-8411

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