"The Life of a Writer" – A Conversation with UBC Library's Writer-in-Residence Kevin Spenst
Join us for a special literary Q&A session featuring poet, writer, editor, and chapbook-maker Kevin Spenst in conversation with Bonnie Nish, Executive Director of Word Vancouver Festival
Date/Time: Oct 1 2026, 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm
Vancouver, Peña Room (Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Level 3), UBC Library1961 East Mall
Tickets
Cost: Free
This engaging dialogue offers audiences the opportunity to hear from one of Vancouver’s most dynamic literary voices as he reflects on his wide-ranging creative practice, his deep engagement with community, and his lifelong relationship with poetry, performance, and place.
This intimate conversation will explore Spenst’s creative process, his thoughts on the evolving literary landscape, and the forms of experimentation, collaboration, and lived experience that shape his work. From poetry and chapbooks to performance and literary community-building, the session invites audiences into the mind of a writer whose work is playful, searching, and deeply rooted in language.
Moderator
Dr. Bonnie Nish is Executive Director of Word Vancouver and Pandora’s Collective Outreach Society. She holds a Master’s in Arts Education from Simon Fraser University and a PhD in Language and Literacy Education from the University of British Columbia, where she currently teaches. A certified Expressive Arts Therapist and faculty member at the Vancouver Expressive Arts Therapy School, Bonnie has led workshops across North America for over 20 years. She is the author of Love and Bones, co-editor of Concussion and Mild TBI: Not Just Another Headline, and co-author of Cantata in Two Voices with Jude Neale. Bonnie lives in Vancouver and is working on a new book.
UBC Library
UBC Library is home to over nine million print and digital treasures — from thousands of electronic journal subscriptions to one-of-a-kind first edition literary classics.
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