Under the Rooftops of Vancouver: Amber Dawn, Sonnet L'Abbé & Charlie Petch

Under the Rootops of Vancouver is a night of poetry where we celebrate love, laughter and sex. There will be free Lindor Chocolate. There will be sexy poems. There will be silly characters, an open mic and three fabulous features. Their names are Amber Dawn, Sonnet L’Abbé and Charlie Petch.

Amber Dawn is the author of six books and editor of three anthologies. Her body-of-work largely explores queerness, trauma-informed cultural production and madness. Her newest poetry collection Buzzkill Clamshell (2025) flaunts the chronically pained body as a source of lewd feminine power.

Dr. Sonnet L’Abbé is a poet, editor, vocalist and professor. They are the award-winning author of three collections of poetry, A Strange Relief, Killarnoe, and Sonnet’s Shakespeare, and of the chapbook, Anima Canadensis. They currently write and perform at the intersection of poetry, jazz, blues and spoken word while teaching Creative Writing and English at Vancouver Island University.

Charlie Petch (they/he) is a disabled & transmasculine multidisciplinary artist. Their debut poetry collection, Why I Was Late (Brick Books), won the 2022 ReLit Award, and was named "Best of 2021" by The Walrus. Petch received a Golden Beret Spoken Word Prize from the League of Canadian Poets. Their play “No one’s special at the hot dog cart” debuted in 2024 with sold out shows at Theatre Passe Muraille and Public Energy. Petch's latest poetry book, "Infinite Audition" by Brick Books, was launched in 2025, and is being used both as a poetry book, and theatre resource for trans and non-binary actors. It also contains a full album of music created by Charlie. They founded "Hot Damn it's a Queer Slam" and have worked in spoken word organizing and curation since 2011. They do workshops and write plays, librettos, poems, and music and perform their work for audiences all over Turtle Island.

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