Leesa Dean

BOOK TRAILER FOR INTERSTITIAL, my forthcoming poetry collection 😍😍 I am beyond grateful for this beautiful short film created by local filmmaker @paulsotropa_ as part of the @selkirkcollege microinternship program. Paul is currently a Digital Arts student at the college where I work. I gave him pretty minimal directions for this book trailer and he came back with something SO incredible! This is just the first 45 seconds of the video. Please click the YouTube link in my profile to watch the full video. I hope you will! Let me know what you think! #poetry #booksbooksbooks #shortfilm #poetrycommunity #writersofinstagram

I’m VERY happy to share the cover design for my forthcoming book, Interstitial, which will be published in March 2026. This is just a mock up: I’ll be working with @gaspereaupress again (hooray) and as per Gaspereau tradition, the actual cover will be printed by letterpress 😍😍😍 This image, originally a Lino print titled “Messenger,” is one of many masterpieces created by my colleague and friend @waywardcitizen . When I first saw her post it on Instagram, it spoke to me in a deep way. Crows and skeleton keys are recurring images in Interstitial and it really feels like this art was meant to live beside my poems forever. I am SO grateful it will soon be a reality!! So far the greatest joy of this forthcoming book has been collaborating with other local artists like Kerry and working with Gaspereau’s new owner, @hardscrabblepress . Keagan Hawthorne is an ideal publisher: he is great to work with on so many levels and I can tell he really cares about Gaspereau and all of us authors. I’ve also had two different local filmmakers create shorts based on poems from this collection. One of them is posted already (Home Video, Never Taken- check it out) directed by @e.k.braffet and I’ll be sharing an incredible book trailer by @paulsotropa_ next week. Stay tuned! Gaspereau doesn’t do preorders but you can pick up my book anytime after March 19th, come to one of my book events this spring, ask your local indie bookstore to bring it in, or have me mail you a signed copy. I think this is my best work, but I think you are also going to want this beautiful print on the cover 😍😍😍 #bookcover #printmakersofinstagram #poetry #poetrycommunity #art

The name for this essay came to me in a dream, so I followed that dream until I found Wordsworth above Tintern Abbey in the jaws of a goth snake… Intrigued? Thanks for reading and thanks @rob_mclennan_writer for soliciting! It’s published at Periodicities 😃😃 #poetry #poetics #essay #canlit #writersofinstagram #writer #poetrycommunity #poet #author #authorsofinstagram #gothgirl

Have been blessed by a review of Interstitial (published by @gaspereaupress in March) by the carefully observant @rob_mclennan_writer 😃😃😃 “Composed as a lyric of detail, both meticulous and sketched, and incorporating visual elements, Dean quilts Interstitial with incredible precision…At times she writes her descriptions slant, confronting directly when required and skimming across an interiority, an abstract of lyric, as counterpoint, holding upon balance between what needs to be said and what can’t be easily held.” You can read the full review on rob’s blog, which is an essential platform for poets and poetry in Canada and beyond. Link is on my dashboard. I’m grateful for everyone who has taken the time to read this book and let me know what they think about it. Though it has only been out in the world for six weeks, this book just feels so much more alive and present than my other books, probably because I care so deeply about the subject matter.

Leg #3 of book touring, complete! This time we had the pleasure of reading at @cranbrookpubliclibrary and @fernie_heritage_library where our dear friend @angie.abdou introduced us and asked the best questions. We met so many other lovely folks including @anieradish and Michael Hepler who runs @clawhammerpress and gave us a tour of the studio this morning! Many old high school friends and even my grade three teacher (photo #8) came out to the Cranbrook event. My aunt and cousin came too (photo 6) and we all cried together. Today was the day my childhood home in Cranbrook went on the market 💔💔 We also met @suyfa.collective (photo 10), a group of lovely humans from Kimberley BC who are publishing an anthology of East Kootenay writers very soon. So many people we connected with truly give a shit about art and writing. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for caring about and making art ❤️❤️❤️ Huge thanks to @columbiabasintrust and @wkartscouncil for the local touring grant (read: also give a shit about art). Long car rides with poets? THE BEST! Next up: @argobookshop and @bookpeople.to on May 23 and 25 😃😃😃😃 It’s been an epic spring so far. I am truly grateful 🙏

The poem in this video, The Way From Frog Peak, is a love letter to my family and to @frogpeakcafe , an important community hub in the Slocan Valley. Many thanks to @e.k.braffet who shot and directed this short film and for driving the road from Frog Peak to my home like 30 times. Good thing I have an electric car! FYI, my husband @mattykakez painted the Alice in Wonderland mural AND part of the fence shown in the video. That is my actual daughter in the video, running with the wind in her hair, skating the frozen river, and dancing with her dad❤️ This poem is in my recently published book, Interstitial, published by the fine folks at @gaspereaupress . Don’t have a copy yet? You can order one through any bookstore or dm me if you want a signed copy 😃 Long live Frog Peak, country drives, and the power of art ❤️❤️

Great weekend of Mom-themed activities: being a mom, thinking about my own mom, going to two different mom themed book launches on the same night :Mom Camp by @veroniquedarwin_ and Milk Teeth by @rayliebich Feeling grateful for my community, including the ones who have moved to the spirit realm but are still very much part of my day to day ❤️

Touring is so much fun!!!!! Going on event #6 in Fernie next Wednesday at the @fernie_heritage_library and Thursday in Cranbrook at @cranbrookpubliclibrary , in the very best company with @janebyers22 and my bestie reneeharper_artwriting🥳🥳😍😍 Our regional library tour has been generously funded by @wkartscouncil and @columbiabasintrust . We appreciate you and all the libraries that have hosted us! Do you have friends in Fernie and Cranbrook? Please send them our way! My final tour stops will be our SOLD OUT event May 23rd at @bookpeople.to (get on the waiting list if you didn’t book in time!!), May 25th at @argobookshop (only 12 tickets left) and then 4 days in Winnipeg for CWP! And THEN a whole lot of self care after an incredibly busy 6 weeks ❤️

In more lit news, my friend @veroniquedarwin_ has recently published a book with @pressassembly and it’s AWESOME. So uniquely quirky and startling in all the best ways. It’s such a trip to read, truly original! I am looking forward to hosting her Nelson book event this coming Saturday. Come if you live in the Koots!

Montreal and Toronto folks, I’ll see you soon!!!! I have two very exciting book events coming up at the end of May. The Toronto event is very close to being sold out and Montreal is already more than half full… Tickets are free so PLEASE book ahead if you plan to come to either event! Links are on my dashboard. I’ll be reading at @bookpeople.to on the 23rd with @jenlg52 and my tour baddie @lisarpoet and then I’ll head to Montreal to read at @argobookshop with @ambiance.queer @infinitecitizen and @occasional_poems on May 25th. What an honour to read with all these fabulous poets! Sina Queryas was my very first poetry mentor and taught me all the best things about how to be a poet, at a crucial moment in my life when I truly needed guidance. Reading together in Montreal, 15 years later, feels significant. A bientot, mes ami(e)s!!

What a fantastic launch party at @caffe_fantastico !! Great people, great poetry, great vibes. What a privilege to read for a second time with my “Tour baddie “ @lisarpoet along with Neil Surkan, the current Poet Laureate of Nanaimo, and one of my fave poets Kayla Czaga who read this amazing long poem about vampires who work in a shopping mall. Special thanks to @roseanne_h who read my very first (bad) short story 20 years ago and has been on the writing journey with me ever since and @sonnetlabbe and @ennsjoe for driving in all the way from Nanaimo on a weeknight! And of course I am grateful for my lovely, supportive husband @mattykakez who brought half the crowd and my daughter who has attended most of my literary events since she was a baby ❤️ What a great way to end poetry month!

I am still reeling from the magic of last night’s event at @upstartandcrow 😍😍!!! If I could read with @jamellahagen and @lisarpoet a hundred more times, I would. Luckily I have more events lined up with both of them. Thanks to all the folks who showed up for us and for poetry, and for staying afterwards so we could unpack so many writerly topics at the pub. Very special thanks to my mentor @nourishing.word who came all the way from Harrison! Chelene has taught me all the best things I know about writing and creating community so to have her there was truly special. @abbywh was a wonderful host and took some of these photos, as did my partner in all things @mattykakez Next up: @caffe_fantastico in Victoria next Wednesday! What a rad poetry month 😃😃😃 #poetry #poetrymonth #poetrycommunity