Wendy Donawa
June 19th, 2025
It takes a poet to capture the sensory appeal of the West Coast in a few words, such as these lines from Wendy Donawa’s third collection, The Time of Falling Apart (Harbour $22.95): “the tide’s pebbly click and shush / and crows cawing in the arbutus.” Donawa is reflecting on her childhood in the towns of Vancouver Island while also writing about all that happens in life on earth including the horrors. Colonialization, competing ideologies and a pandemic are experienced side-by-side with bees humming in flowers, Bach, friends and cappuccinos. Donawa’s first poetry book, Thin Air of the Knowable (Brick Books, 2017) was longlisted for the Raymond Souster Award and a finalist for the Gerald Lampert Award. 9781998526307
Hope to see you October 24, 2025 at launch of “The Time of Falling Apart at Planet Earth Poetry”. 7 pm at Russell Books, 747 Fort St., Victoria. I will be joined by the marvellous Laura Apol, Michigan Poet Laureate 2019-2021.