In Volume Seven: Chapter Three of the program, we welcome Bronx-born, New York City-based Writer, Performance Poet, Curator, and star of the one-woman show "The Long Way Home", Leah V.

In our conversation, we trace her creative history—from writing poetry at seven, to studying musical theater, to finding her footing in New York’s spoken word scene. We touch on her recent marriage and what it’s like balancing something deeply personal with a public life rooted in performance. We revisit "Virtual Voices", the virtual open mic space that introduced me to her work back in 2020, and her "partner in Creative crime" and co-host JRose.

We spend time on a pivotal chapter—losing her father, the silence that followed, and what brought her back to writing during COVID. That return to the page becomes a turning point, not just creatively, but personally.

At the center of the conversation is her one-woman show, The Long Way Home: A Spoken Word Journey—a piece built around her late father’s poems and journal entries. We talk about what it means to carry someone’s voice forward, what she discovered about him in the process, and how grief evolves when you’re forced to sit with it, shape it, and share it.

We also get into the New York poetry community, the importance of creative spaces, her experience performing at the Apollo Theater, and how she thinks about the stage—as a place of discovery or revelation.

Contact Leah V:
Website: leahvspeaks.com Instagram: @leahvspeaks

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Just Ace – What If I Was Him
Instagram: @iam_justace

Arantza Garcia – Recipe Book
Instagram: @arantza.cgf

Kennie Sings – Like A Lady
Instagram: @kennie_sings

Leah V – 3am
Leah V - Yours
Instagram: @leahvspeaks Website: leahvspeaks.com

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In Volume Seven: Chapter Three of the program, we welcomed Writer, Author, and Poet Irina Moga. Her work has been nominated for the SFPA Rhysling Award and Best of the Net, and her collection Variations Without Palace was the 2022 winner of the Dina Sahyouni International Literary Prize. She’s the author of six collections, including her latest, Quantum, and is an active member of several literary organizations across Canada.

In our conversation, Irina discusses her early creative beginnings—starting with a poetry group in high school that, in her words, “mercilessly” tore apart each other’s work. What could have discouraged a young writer instead became foundational, shaping her approach to revision, experimentation, and resilience. We talk about what it means to have your work challenged early, and how that kind of environment can either push you out—or pull you deeper in.

We also spend time on one of the more fascinating parts of her journey: the transition from writing in Romanian to writing in English after immigrating to Canada. Rather than simply carrying over her voice, Irina made the intentional decision to rebuild it. We get into what that process looked like in real time—the frustrations, the disconnects, and what it took to stay committed to that evolution instead of retreating to what was familiar.

Throughout the conversation, Irina shares how writing lives for her today—not just as a craft, but as a space. A space of silence, concentration, and layering, where language, culture, and personal experience intersect. We talk about poetry as both deconstruction and reconstruction—how it allows us to break reality apart and reassemble it into something that feels more true, more honest, and sometimes more bearable.

Contact Irina:
Website: irinamoga.com Instagram: @pictopoems

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Taalam Acey – Affirmation for Black Men
Instagram: @taalamacey Website: taalamacey.com

Brandon Alexander Williams – Black Woman Studies
Instagram: @brandonalexanderwilliams

Anita D. – Colors
Instagram: @anitadpoetry

Alyesha Wise – Cannibal
Instagram: @alyeshawise Website: alyeshawise.com

Ciara Chantelle – Empty Cups
Instagram: @ciarachantelle

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In Volume Seven: Chapter Two of the podcast, we welcomed Vancouver-born, Quebec-based Educator, Writer, Poet, and Author of the poetry collection Long Exposure, Stephanie Bolster.

Stephanie is Professor of Creative Writing at Concordia University, earned her BFA and MFA from the University of British Columbia, and is the author of five poetry collections.

In our conversation we discuss her creative beginnings—starting with early storytelling, a childhood desire to become an author, and the writers who helped define her path. She speaks on discovering poetry through Emily Dickinson, and later finding something deeper and more urgent in the work of Sylvia Plath—an influence that helped shift poetry from something she enjoyed to something she needed.

We also spend time unpacking identity—what it meant to call herself a poet early on, before expectations and career entered the picture, and how that relationship to the word “poet” has evolved over time. That idea opens into a broader conversation about imagination, the role poetry plays in making sense of the world, and whether those two instincts—creation and understanding—work together or pull in different directions.

We discuss Long Exposure, a project more than a decade in the making, and what it means to finally bring that work into the world. Stephanie reflects on her relationship with the collection, the time it took to come together, and how living with a manuscript for that long shapes both the work and the writer behind it.

We close on process and balance: her writing routine, the importance of physical space and environment, and the ongoing challenge of making room for writing within the realities of teaching, family, and life. It’s a transparent look at the tension between knowing writing is essential and still having to negotiate time for it.

Contact Stephanie:
Website: stephaniebolster.com Instagram: @stephaniebolster0110

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Shanelle Gabriel – Vanity
Instagram: @shanellegabriel Website: shanellegabriel.com

Matt Capone – Learned with Love
Instagram: @matt__capone

Gigi Bella – Slut
Instagram: @ggbellag Website: gigibellapoetry.com

Anyrah Shaveh – We Must Not Die Young
Instagram: @iamshaveh Website: anyrahshaveh.com

Moody Black – Eight Letters
Instagram: @iammoodyblack Website: iammoodyblack.com

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