Poetry Walk 2026 Recordings & Artist Info

Here you will find information on the artists who have participated in Poetry Walk 2026 with the Downtown Courtenay Business Improvement Association.

These talented individuals have poured their inspiration into the art created for our event and we celebrate them and their efforts. Each artist has recorded their creation, and provided us with a short biography so you know more about them. Please take a moment, have a listen, and learn about those who have brought this spectacular event to life.

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Artist Biographies, Recordings, and Sponsoring Business

A Ritual for Waking – Toni Dunne – Tea Centre

Toni Dunne is an earthen creatrix, eco-sensualist, social butterfly, silly goose. Her poetry is inspired by paradox, the stretchy, crunchy, achy beautiful journey of the human condition. Born of her love for the garden, forest, river, mountain and sea, her poetry emphasizes and explores relationship with the natural world. Her most beloved muse is the clawfoot tub in the yard.

Books Are Bivalves – Natalie Nickerson – Laughing Oyster Books

Natalie Nickerson (BA., BEd.) has been writing herself into life since an early age. As an adult, she embraces poetry as both compass and catalyst— nurturing new perspectives, inspiring deeper longings, deepening presence, evoking awe and revealing the subtle interconnectedness of existence. She hopes to nurture aesthetic intelligence as an essential counterweight to artificial intelligence — preserving the human capacities for imagination, empathy and reverent attention.

Brewers’ Boots – Steven J. Thompson – Gladstone Brewing

Steven J. Thompson is a poet and spoken word artist who participated in the CBC Poetry Face-off. His poetry has appeared in publications such as MuseMedusa. A member of the Victoria National Poetry Slam team, Steven has performed at events including Vancouver’s Word on the Street and The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. He is a graduate of the Spoken Word Program at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the co-founder of the Tongues of Fire spoken word series.

Four Seasons – Steve Horel – Edible Island

Came to BC 1969 when everyone not nailed down rolled west. Never left. Worked construction, mining exploration, tree planting, land surveying, market

gardening. Owner Operator of RockBottom Farm, Merville, BC, on Vancouver Island, growing organic vegetables since 1974. Poems in West Coast Review, Hanging Loose, Drift: Poems And Poets From The Comox Valley, and most recently, War Resisters. Published a chapbook titled Your Absence Saddens Even The River in tribute to my wife.

Cautious optimist. Still buy green bananas with confidence.

Heavy Words – Kim June Johnson – Foundation Hair Salon

Kim June Johnson is a singer-songwriter, piano composer and writer of poetry and essays. Her writing has appeared in FOLKLIFE Magazine, The New Quarterly, Prairie Fire, Best Canadian Poetry and elsewhere. She hosts an online writing community during the winter months called “Cozy Sunday Write-Ins” and if you’re a lover of writing, she’d love to have you. She has been living on this glorious land of the Komoks people for 12 years and loves wandering its forest paths with her Bernese Mountain dog, Camellia.  @kimjunejohnson

Here – Dan Kirk – Hot Chocolates

Dan coedited the poetry anthology, Drift (2020), and has three chapbooks, including, Hard Things (The Poem Factory 2024) and My Father Our Father (The Poem Factory 2025). His third chapbook Still Talking, Long After They Are Gone, was just published in March. He founded and ran the Red Tree Poetry Series and co-produced the first two Cascadia Poetry Festivals in Cumberland, B.C. Dan has worked as a towboater, boomer, oyster farmer, silvicultural contractor, teacher, homesteader and organic farmer. He lives in Courtenay, B.C., on the Salish Sea, on the stolen lands of the K’omoks Peoples with artist Lisa Kirk.

High Tide – Carys Owen – Comox Valley Cannabis

Carys Owen is a poet, artist, community builder and nature-lover who respectfully lives on the unceded territory of the K’omoks First Nation on Vancouver Island, Canada. Her office is on the beach, by the river, in the forest, near a mountain.

Her poetry has been read at conferences and meetings to illustrate the life of various organizations, such as Lush Valley Food Action Society. She is also proud to have read her poetry at Pride in the Park.

Carys is mindful of creating poems that celebrate the wonders of the natural world with the aim of encouraging connection and hope.

https://carysowenpoetry.ca/

Instagram: @carysowenpoetry

In The Lap of Wave – Scott Lawrence – Foveo Run

Scott Lawrance has been a denizen of the Salish Sea his whole life, having dropped roots in Vancouver, Robert’s Creek, Gibson’s, Saltspring Island, Oak Bay, and Cortes Island. He was one of the team who brought Raincoast Chronicles into the world, and was co-editor of two poetry magazines, Circular Causation and Raven. Over the years, he has published eight books of poetry, most recently a third collaboration with artist Gregg Simpson, entitled Divining The Stone, published by Carbonation Press.

Island – Landon Arora Norris – The Romance Shop

Landon Arora Norris is a visual artist, actor, and poet, bringing an abundance of energy and colour to the stage, with vibrant brush strokes and line-work, wordplay, quirky subject matter, and eye-catching composition, leaving the ear a myriad of details to explore and become lost in. Landon mixes her personal experiences, interests in games and pop culture, along with her affinity for literary exploration and play.
Landon earned a BFA in Drawing & Painting from OCAD University, while working steadily as a professional on-screen and voice actor. Her engagement in the artistic world quickly segued into music and poetry, latching onto linguistic intricacies, like anagrams, palindromes, and spoonerisms. She enjoys the carefree exploration involved in abstraction, and cartooning, while having a deep-rooted understanding of realism, light and shadow. With this amalgamation of artistic expression, Landon crosses the lines between free-spirited childlike poetry and highly technical lyricism and flow.
Landon drove out from Toronto to Courtenay four years ago and planted roots on the island rather quickly, enjoying the pace of life, and the immediate connection to nature and the breathtaking outdoors this country is rich with.

Kinship – Damian John – 5th Street Florist

Mustus Argis – Kristina Campbell – The Mustard Lady

Kristina Campbell is an artist, counsellor, and creativity facilitator whose home base is Artful : The Gallery in Courtenay, BC. Since 2022, her gallery’s popular monthly Artful : The Poets series has been inspiring poets and singer/songwriters to share their wordcraft.

Campbell’s Norse roots are evident in her work as she explores themes of mythology, memory, archetypes and biography. Her work utilizes a unique aesthetic of emotionally evocative, sensual, playful and haunting imagery across her multi-media practice.

Piercy Ave 4 – Delia Anderson – Generations Laser

Delia is a Scottish elder who sings the blues. She used to be a belly dancer but now she does songs. Delia loves poetry. She enjoys listening to other poets and reports that she feels compelled to put poetry to music as it helps her to absorb hidden meanings and appreciate subtle nuances.

Delia started writing her own poetry at age 65. ‘I’m a baby at the art form’, says Delia.

Untitled – Ashten Leverick – Mudsharks Cafe

An author. A spoken word artist. A truth teller.

Through his writing, reviewed as both “raw and visceral”, Ashten Leverick shares the dichotomy of the beauties and the brutalities of life.

In his debut full-length work, “Excruciate”, he frames an experience of deep anguish and betrayal with poetry and vulnerability.

He has a silly number of dogs in his happy home in the charming village of Cumberland, BC. In their good company, he delights in the forests and the ocean waves.

[email protected]

ashtenleverick.ca

Print Shop Honours Nature – Margaret Mackenzie – Hi-Tec Brazen

Margaret spends her time juggling poetry writing with art pursuits, long walks and encouraging others in their creative expression.  You will find her meandering the trails and beaches, jotting down ideas for poems, art workshops and nature research, or in deep philosophical discussion with a co-conspirator. Contact through her FaceBook or Instagram accounts:  silverbowerbirdgallery or mckenzietherapeuticarts.

Selkie – Diana Kolpak – La Cache

Diana Kolpak is a story-teller who uses photography, poetry, plays, theatre and music as her media to create work that merges artistic disciplines in unexpected ways. Published works include the children’s book Starfall; the play Bedtime Stories, poetry in several online magazines, and photos in Conscilience and Counterflow magazines. Her current theatrical work, BLUE, is an interactive musical odyssey through the ocean of love guided by former-mermaid-turned-lounge-singer Sally Siren. She is also half of the musical duo the Ookoolaydeez.  www.dianakolpak.ca

Symphony #9 – Kelly Madden – Soulstar Metaphysical

Kelly Madden is a Vancouver Island poet whose work has appeared in numerous publications

supported by the League of Canadian Poets. Her poetry can also be found in the literary journals, Reckoning 2 & 4, SAPPzine, Island Writer’s Magazine, CV2, The Poet, Drift, Drunk Monkeys and elsewhere. She speaks for the overlooked, the unhoused, and the ecosystems we continue toerase. She has a forthcoming book with Caitlin Press (Fall, 2026).

kellybmadden.com

The Sid Williams Theatre – John Beaton – Sid Williams Theatre

John Beaton’s metrical poetry has been widely published and has won several awards. He is a poet performer in a Celtic band and authored Leaving Camustianavaig, a collection of his verse. He wrote a monthly poetry page in the local magazine Eyes on BC and he was moderator of Eratosphere, a respected online poetry workshop. In 2024 he presented his environmental poetry at the Earth Charter International Conference in Florida. Raised in the Scottish Highlands, John lives in Qualicum Beach.

Tideline – Anne Farrer – Uranus Gifts

Anne Farrer is a local writer of poetry and prose. A keen observer of the human condition, her work reflects the beauty and humour of everyday life. Publication credits include The Globe and Mail First Person section, Poetry Pause from League of Canadian Poets, CV Collective, InHabit magazine, and Sea & Cedar magazine. She also has two self-published chapbooks. She lives by the sea and dreams about a certain crow.

Experience more of her work at www.annefarrer.com.

Untangle – Tara Hope – Hairpins Salon

Tara Hope is a playful singer, songwriter, performer, part-time registered clinical

counsellor and full-time human devoted to lightening up.

Wild Ginger for Sewists – Lorin Medley – The Spool Sewing Studio

Lorin Medley is a poet from Comox, BC published in several anthologies including Winter in America (Again, Cascadian Zen: volume two, Drift: Poems and Poets from the Comox Valley, Sweetwater: Poems for the Watersheds, and Refugium: Poems for the Pacific. Her writing can also be found in The New Quarterly magazine, subTerrain, ThePuritan, and Many Gendered Mothers.  Lorin’s poetry chapbook On the Way to Kluusms was published in 2025 by Watershed Press.