Jane Byers launches second poetry collection at the Nelson Library
By Contributor
Nelson poet Jane Byers launches her second book of poetry Acquired Community, published by Caitlin Press, on Thursday, October 6, 7 p.m. at the Nelson Public Library.
The poet’s first book launch packed the house, and Adult Service’s Coordinator Anne DeGrace expects another big crowd.
“Jane has a healthy following that goes well beyond the local,” she said. “Readers have been waiting for this volume with anticipation.”
In Steeling Effects, her first poetry collection published in 2014, Byers explored her experience with resilience in the face of personal challenges.
In the poems in Acquired Community she investigates seminal moments in North American lesbian and gay history, and reflects on her own coming out experience in the context that larger picture.
Over all, Acquired Community examines and celebrates community resilience.
“This is the history you didn’t learn at school,” said Byers. “These poems are based on stories that are rich with grace and humour in the face of oppression.”
Byers has had poems, essays and short fiction published in a number of books and literary magazines in Canada, the US, and the UK, including Grain, Descant, the Antigonish Review, the Canadian Journal of Hockey Literature, Poetry in Transit and Best Canadian Poetry 2014.
She is a recipient of the Richard Carver Award for Emerging Writers.
