2016 - 2017 Writer in Residence
Bren Simmers
An award-winning writer whose work is rooted in a sense of place, Bren Simmers is the author of two books of poetry, Hastings-Sunrise (Nightwood, 2015) and Night Gears (Wolsak and Wynn, 2010). Set in East Vancouver, Hastings-Sunrise is a book-length poem that chronicles the search for home in a city with an increasingly high cost of living and was a finalist for the 2015 City of Vancouver Book Award.
Bren completed a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia and has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, and the Squamish Arts Council. She won the ARC Poem of the Year Award and has been a finalist for The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award.
While in residence, Bren will be working on a third book of poems that explores changing community identity and resilience in small towns, as well as a long essay about a wilderness canoe trip. An environmental educator for the last decade, Bren sources inspiration from the wild spaces she spends time in and the communities that are drawn to them.
www.brensimmers.com
Bren completed a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia and has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, and the Squamish Arts Council. She won the ARC Poem of the Year Award and has been a finalist for The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Memorial Award.
While in residence, Bren will be working on a third book of poems that explores changing community identity and resilience in small towns, as well as a long essay about a wilderness canoe trip. An environmental educator for the last decade, Bren sources inspiration from the wild spaces she spends time in and the communities that are drawn to them.
www.brensimmers.com
