Happy 2026! The first reading of the Dead Poets Reading Series this year will feature these fantastic poets:
Joseph Dandurand reading Charles Bukowski (1920–1994)
Heidi Greco reading Nelson Ball (1942–2019)
Elee Kraljii Gardiner reading Forugh Farrokhzad (1934–1967)
Christopher Levenson reading Jonathan Swift (1667–1745)
Date/Time: January 11th, 3:00pm – 4:45pm
Location: Outsiders and Others (#100 – 938 Howe Street, Vancouver)
This is a masks-required event to keep things as safe as possible for everyone.
Reader Bios
Joseph Dandurand Joseph A. Dandurand is a member of Kwantlen First Nation located on the Fraser River about 20 minutes east of Vancouver. He resides there with his 3 children Danessa, Marlysse, and Jace. Joseph is the Director of the Kwantlen Cultural Center. Joseph received a Diploma in Performing Arts from Algonquin College and studied Theatre and Direction at the University of Ottawa. He has been the Storyteller in Residence at the Vancouver Public Library. He has published 13 books of poetry and the latest are: I WANT by Leaf Press (2015) and HEAR AND FORETELL by BookLand Press (2015) The Rumour (2018) by BookLand Press in (2018) SH:LAM (the doctor) Mawenzi Press (2019) The Corrupted by Guernica Press (2020) his children’s play: Th’owixiya: the hungry Feast dish by Playwrights Press Canada (2019) his children’s books: The Sasquatch, the fire, and the cedar basket (2020) and The Magical Sturgeon (2022) published by Nightwood Press along with his poetry manuscript: The Punishment (2022) He also is very busy Storytelling at many events and Schools.
Heidi Greco lives and works in the wilds of South Surrey, on Territory of the Semiahmoo Nation. She writes in many genres—from her first love, poetry, to fiction, essays, reviews, and blog posts. Her work has been published in books, magazines, and anthologies, both print and online. In 2018 she edited the anthology, From the Heart of It All: Ten Years of Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. And in 2021 Anvil Press published Glorious Birds, a celebratory homage to one of her favourite films, Harold and Maude. More details are at her website, heidigreco.ca.
Elee Kraljii Gardiner is the author of two poetry collections (Trauma Head, serpentine loop) and the editor of two essay collections (Against Death: 35 Essays on Living and V6A: Writing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside). A frequent collaborator with choreographers, musicians, sound and visual artists, Elee is currently collaborating with nature via a series of durational art installations that investigate cultural ideas regarding the passing of time. With Bronwen Tate she co directs the Whole Cloth reading series at UBC’s Green College where a poet reads an entire book in one event. She also directs Vancouver Manuscript Intensive and is the seventh poet laureate of Vancouver, learning in community via the sound-based legacy project Here, Hearing. Her new book, sometimes, forest, arrives from Talonbooks in the spring.
Christopher Levenson first recipient of the Eric Gregory Award, has published fourteen books of poetry, most recently Moorings (Caitlin Press, 2023) He was co-founder and first editor of Arc magazine. After retiring from teaching English, Comparative Literature and full year poetry workshop courses at Carleton University in Ottawa, he came to Vancouver in 2007 where with Rob Taylor he revived the Dead Poets Reading Series. He also translates from German and Dutch and reviews for the online BC Review.
Dead Poets Bios
Charles Bukowski (1920–1994) was born in Germany and lived most of his life in Los Angeles, California. He wrote poetry, novels, and short stories in a raw and brutally honest voice that addressed the struggle of living in a corrupt society where poverty, drinking, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work were common themes. Called a “laureate of American lowlife” by Time magazine, Bukowski published over sixty books over the course of his career. Notable poetry titles include Mockingbird Wish Me Luck (1972), Love Is a Dog from Hell (1977), and You Get So Alone at Times That It Just Makes Sense (1986).
Nelson Ball (1942–2019) - A true Ontarian, Nelson Ball was born, raised, lived and died there. Along the way he worked at many jobs, but is best known as a poet who excelled at minimalist forms. In addition, he was a publisher who gave early attention to many of Canada’s finest poets. He was also a highly-respected seller of books, especially obscure ones.
Forugh Farrokhzad (1934–1967) was an Iranian poet, a screenwriter, a painter, and a filmmaker born in 1934 who died suddenly in 1967. From her first collection of poetry, Asir (approximately translated “Captive,” 1955), Farrokhzad was concerned with female desire, sensuality, and cultural restrictions on women. She published three collections of poetry over the next decade: Divar (approximately translated “The Wall,” 1956), Esian (approximately translated “Rebellion”) (1958), and Tavallodi digar (approximately translated “Another Birth,” 1964). She also translated the work of George Bernard Shaw and Henry Miller and made a groundbreaking documentary, The House Is Black (1962), about a leper colony in northeastern Iran. Following the 1979 revolution that overthrew Iran’s secular monarchy, Farrokhzad’s work was banned and then heavily censored for nearly a decade. Her untimely death in a car crash at the age of 32 was seen as a national tragedy and made the front pages of Tehran’s newspapers. She is seen as a symbol of artistic, personal, and sexual freedom because of her unprecedented work in articulating the inner emotional and physical intimacies of women in her culture. After Farrokhzad’s death, the posthumous collections Sin: Selected Poems of Forugh Farrokhzad (2010), translated by Sholeh Wolpé, and Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season (2014), translated by Elizabeth T. Gray, were published.
Jonathan Swift (1667–1745) was an Anglo-Irish poet, satirist, essayist, and political pamphleteer, born in Dublin, Ireland. He spent much of his early adult life in England before returning to Dublin to serve as Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin for the last 30 years of his life. It was this later stage when he would write most of his greatest works. Best known as the author of A Modest Proposal (1729), Gulliver’s Travels (1726), and A Tale Of A Tub (1704), Swift is widely acknowledged as the greatest prose satirist in the history of English literature.
