Sonnet L'Abbé

This year’s Mashed Poetics featured artists are Tegan and Sara — join us for a fun-filled night of loud music and deep poetry as poets share new work inspired by 10 of the iconic duo’s songs, performed live by “The Con.” Check out this year’s lineup: Side A Stop Desire – Anjalica Solomon (@anjalicrush ) The Con – Skylar Kay (@skywriting.yyc ) I Bet It Stung – Isabella Wang Call It Off – Nevaeh North Hell – Allie Cristoffanini Side B My Number – Amber Dawn (@amberdawnpoetry ) Where Did the Good Go – Sonnet L’Abbé (@sonnetlabbe ) Back in Your Head – Wilhelmina Salmi Living Room – Shauna Paull Closer – Kay Fraser (@brevity.roots ) Mashed Poetics: Verses 2026 Edition 🗓️ May 1 (Fri) 8–10:30pm 🎟️ Advance $10 | At the door $15 or pay what you can #VersesFestival #SpokenWord #PoetrySlam #Poetry #NationalPoetryMonth

This Thursday, come join Neil Surkan and friends for the lunch of his new book of poems, Empties, at @windowseatbooks

We are excited about our planting party with newcomer women and photo artist Mayita Mendez joining us in the Catstream Forest bordering Robin’s Park this Sunday March 22, starting at 10am. Snuneymuxw Elder Geraldine Manson will welcome us and provide protocols. Our hands up for her wisdom and guidance! We are also excited to announce our next ivy-pulling party, on Sunday March 29th, 2-4pm at Bowen Park (Gather at Amphitheatre/ duck pond). This event offers extraordinary opportunities for you to meet and work with amazing local artists who will be part of our earth day celebration, using pulled ivy as art material and inspiration. Basketry artist Christi York will join us and registration for the Basket Weaving gathering led by her is open now, don’t miss it!!! Visit our project website: www.PullingToGather.space (Link in Bio) for more details. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, City of Nanaimo, and Cinevolution Media Arts. Big thanks to Snuneymuxw First Nation, SEED coop, Vancouver Island Regional Library, Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society, CHLY 101.7fm. [ID1: Artist Sonnet L’Abbe is bent over a patch of foliage on a forest floor during our Bowen park pulling party. They hold a piece of ivy in gloved hands.] [ID2: ID: Standing in a grassy wetland, two adults and a child plant a tree.] #snuneymuxw #CityofNanaimo #ecoart #ecorestoration #earthday2026

Tomorrow, after the screening of her film Analog Revolution, I will be discussing the history of feminist media with director Marusya Bociurkiw and VIU professor Finn Meyer Cook. VIU Building 355, 7 pm.

The first Words On The Salish Sea Festival has begun on Hornby Island! I'll be reading tomorrow morning.

Warm thanks to everyone who joined our first pulling party at Bowen Park! Our next party involves planting at Catstream Forest on Sunday March 22 starting at 10am. We are also excited to announce this year’s Earth Day celebration! Join us April 25, 11am-5pm, at Bowen Park for Pulling To Gather, a community driven eco-art project. This event offers extraordinary opportunities for you to collaborate with amazing local artists using pulled ivy as art material and inspiration. Visit our project website: www.PullingToGather.space (Link in Bio) for more details and announcements. We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, City of Nanaimo, and Cinevolution Media Arts. Big thanks to Snuneymuxw First Nation, SEED coop, Vancouver Island Regional Library, Central Vancouver Island Multicultural Society, CHLY 101.7fm. [ID 1: Pulling To Gather 2026 poster featuring key event info and images including illustrated blue and green Earth surrounded by human fingers forming a star, a bear, a spawning salmon, aperson pulling ivy and a person holding a sapling.] [ID2: Michael of Nanaimo Forest School pulls a long black tarp with a pile of pulled ivy. A child sits on the ivy pile, riding along.] [ID3: Several ivy piles sit on a gravel path in the Bowen Park Forest. Wryly of Art Action Earwig coils vines over a pile while other participants pull ivy in the background.] #CityofNanaimo #ecoart #ecorestoration #earthday2026 #BringingTheArtsToLife

Come and join us for our first Pulling and Planting work parties. It is part of our community driven eco-art project Pulling To Gather and an opportunity to contribute to local ecology, art, and climate resiliency ♡ Bowen Park Invasive species Removal work party: When: Saturday March 7, 10am-12pm Where: Meet at Amphitheatre near Duck Pond, Bowen Park. What: Removing English Ivy. Some of the harvested materials will be used for community art making later. What to wear: comfy and weather-suitable shoes and clothing for the outdoor pulling activity. Work tools including gloves and garden pitch forks will be provided. Catstream Planting Work party: New food forest development honoring Coast Salish tradition and Native plant ecology. When: Sunday March 22nd, 10am-2pm Where: Below Robins field between 5th and 6th, off of Park. More details to be announced! Photo 1 & 3 by Tadafumi Tamura. Photo 2 by Sean Fenzl. All photos from 2024 Pulling To Gather. [ID1. Wooden board signage with green letters reads “IVY pulling HERE” on white background.] [ID2. A participant contributes pulled ivy vines to community participatory art work building.] [ID3. Three participants plant cedar saplings by a decomposing nursing log.] #Snuneymuxw #nanaimo #invasiveremoval #ecoart #foodforest

We are excited to revive Pulling To Gather this Spring as the empowerment in our local communities are ever more important! Co-produced by Nanaimo Forest School, this project was launched at the cross road of the artists’ urge to directly implement creative actions on the ground, and land stewards’ interests in mobilizing arts for raising awareness. In 2026, we aim to revive the spirit of the project in a new way to broaden the creative conservation, deepen sustainable understanding of the local ecology, and strive for long-term change: We bring creative awareness and action to local salmon habitats and vegetation in symbiotic relationships. South End Ecological Development (SEED) in support of Snuneymuxw First Nation is initiating a new Food Forest in an ecologically sensitive Cat Stream area. We are bringing artists, Elders, and biologists to collaborate in establishing a community garden that is honouring the Coast Salish food forest tradition of nurturing Native food plants while integrating non-invasive modern food plants that can grow in harmony with the local ecology and amplify food security in our culturally diverse community. While we are working on the foundation for this growing initiative, we are continuing our efforts, removing invasives in two neighborhoods, the Cat stream area and Bowen Park/ Millstone River area. Our 2026 Earth Day celebration will take place in the Bowen Park Amphitheatre and surrounding areas, bringing artists and community members together to collaborate. This year, newcomers will also be an important and strong part of a larger net that we are weaving as a collective. The wisdom of the land and Elders teach us that this work takes time, and we learn that we need more people to join in, and of course, the more diverse the hands the better. Stay tuned for key dates and events including work parties! We are grateful for the support of the City of Nanaimo, Canada Council for the Arts, and Cinevolution Photo 1 by Tadafumi Tamara, photo 2 by Sean Fenzl at 2024 Pulling To Gather Earth Day. #Snuneymuxw #Nanaimo #ecorestoration #ecoart #bowenpark #millstoneriver #catstream #coastsalish #foodforest #earthday

I'm not yet comping for myself when I perform live but I'm working on it! Working on lots of Nina Simone tunes because her work is so right for our times. I'll be hosting the Nanaimo Blues Society blues jam this Sunday at 3:00 at the Queens backed by a great band: Michael Patrick, Sara Varro, Mike Anderson, and Dwight Carter.

A still from "My Black History Is Jazz, Is Poetry," at @theviewgallery which I'm touring in the Vancouver/Van Isle area this month. In a somewhat sacreligious-to-the-spoken-word-canon move that I hope GSH approves of from the beyond, I rewrote parts of his 1978 "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" to reference the consumerist, predatory capitalist and fascist forces of today. GSH wasn't saying we wouldn't see evidence of resistance on TV, he was saying that big corp media wouldn't be selling us our own sovereignty, and that we resist first in our untelevisable hearts and minds, before we are moved to action. Thanks to Chioma Azike from @viuniversity for the shot.

Victoria! Come out tonight for an experience more musical than a poetry reading, more literary than a jazz vocal performance, sharing some of the Afro-diasporic music and poetry that helped shaped me into the artist I am now. The incomparable Nick Peck plays jazz piano. Thank you to @malahatreview and @uvicwriting @uvicenglish @uvichistory for presenting this Black History Month event.

Monday Feb 9 at Emily Carr, 5 pm, Rennie Hall!