Poetry in the Park Opening Night featuring Kyeren Regehr & Raoul Fernandes
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POETRY IN THE PARK 2026
Royal City Literary Arts Society presents
Poetry in the Park 2026
In partnership with Arts New West and City of New Westminster
Every Wednesday night from July 15 – August 19 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Each weekly session will feature 2 poets and an Open Mic.
OPENING NIGHT JULY 15
Feature Poets: Kyeren Regehr & Raoul Fernandes
Host: Janet Kvammen, Poet Laureate
Special Guest: Tristan Wright, Qayqayt First Nation
📍 Where? Centennial Lodge, Queen's Park, New Westminster
📅 When? Wed evenings JULY 15-AUGUST 19 | 6:30pm | Open Mic Sign Up 6:15pm
🎉 Why? Because poetry is alive and well in New West!
FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY EVENT
Everyone is welcome!
More about our guests:
Tristan Wright is an illustrator from Qayqayt First Nation, located in New Westminster. She creates work that pushes the boundaries of what urban Indigenous art can be. Her work is an amalgamation of her inspirations, from video games and online fandom. Currently, she is selling her work online and developing a portfolio that demonstrates her research and world building skills. Through her work, Tristan hopes she conveys moments that stand out from stories, communicating through visuals what speaks to others. Having just graduated, she plans to use her portfolio to enter the world of Concept art and Design in Vancouver.
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Kyeren Regehr is the Artistic Director of Planet Earth Poetry and the current Poet Laureate of Victoria. Her work includes The Poet Laureate Podcast (supported by Canada Council for the Arts), and the award-nominated collection Cult Life. Forthcoming with Caitlin Press is the anthology After: Poems in Dialogue co-edited with Zoe Dickinson. A former poetry editor for The Malahat Review, Kyeren’s work has been published internationally, thrice longlisted for the CBC poetry awards, and translated into Chinese. Her background is in the performing arts and she once found herself in the Victoria Slam Finals by accident.
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Raoul Fernandes lives with his wife, two sons, and orange tabby, on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver, BC). His first collection of poems, Transmitter and Receiver (Nightwood Editions, 2015) won the Dorothy Livesay Award and Debut-litzer Award for Poetry in 2016. He is the Poetry Editor for EVENT, one of the organizers of the Dead Poets Reading Series and works in public libraries in Vancouver.
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Royal City Literary Arts Society presents
Poetry in the Park 2026
In partnership with Arts New West and City of New Westminster
Every Wednesday night from July 15 – August 19 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Each weekly session will feature 2 poets and an Open Mic.
OPENING NIGHT JULY 15
Feature Poets: Kyeren Regehr & Raoul Fernandes
Host: Janet Kvammen, Poet Laureate
Special Guest: Tristan Wright, Qayqayt First Nation
📍 Where? Centennial Lodge, Queen's Park, New Westminster
📅 When? Wed evenings JULY 15-AUGUST 19 | 6:30pm | Open Mic Sign Up 6:15pm
🎉 Why? Because poetry is alive and well in New West!
FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY EVENT
Everyone is welcome!
More about our guests:
Tristan Wright is an illustrator from Qayqayt First Nation, located in New Westminster. She creates work that pushes the boundaries of what urban Indigenous art can be. Her work is an amalgamation of her inspirations, from video games and online fandom. Currently, she is selling her work online and developing a portfolio that demonstrates her research and world building skills. Through her work, Tristan hopes she conveys moments that stand out from stories, communicating through visuals what speaks to others. Having just graduated, she plans to use her portfolio to enter the world of Concept art and Design in Vancouver.
---
Kyeren Regehr is the Artistic Director of Planet Earth Poetry and the current Poet Laureate of Victoria. Her work includes The Poet Laureate Podcast (supported by Canada Council for the Arts), and the award-nominated collection Cult Life. Forthcoming with Caitlin Press is the anthology After: Poems in Dialogue co-edited with Zoe Dickinson. A former poetry editor for The Malahat Review, Kyeren’s work has been published internationally, thrice longlisted for the CBC poetry awards, and translated into Chinese. Her background is in the performing arts and she once found herself in the Victoria Slam Finals by accident.
---
Raoul Fernandes lives with his wife, two sons, and orange tabby, on the traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations (Vancouver, BC). His first collection of poems, Transmitter and Receiver (Nightwood Editions, 2015) won the Dorothy Livesay Award and Debut-litzer Award for Poetry in 2016. He is the Poetry Editor for EVENT, one of the organizers of the Dead Poets Reading Series and works in public libraries in Vancouver.
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Where is it happening?
Centennial Lodge, Millenium Trail,New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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