In Volume Seven: Chapter Twelve of the podcast, we welcome Hong Kong-born, Midland, Ontario-based poet and author Grace. Holding a double BA in English Literature and Psychology from the University of British Columbia, Grace is the author of The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak and her newest collection, Be Water, available now from Anvil Press.

Our conversation traces Grace's creative journey from an avid childhood reader who eagerly returned home from weekly library trips with stacks of novels, to someone who initially found poetry uninspiring and imposed upon her in high school. She reflects on how discovering contemporary poetry, becoming immersed in Vancouver's vibrant literary community, and finding an early champion in the partner who became her first editor transformed poetry from an academic exercise into a deeply personal means of understanding herself and the world around her.

Grace opens up about growing up in a family where emotions were rarely spoken aloud, explaining how poetry became the language through which she could process memories, identity, family history, queerness, culture, and belonging. We explore the surprising evolution of her debut collection, The Language We Were Never Taught to Speak, discussing how individual poems gradually revealed themselves to be part of a larger conversation, how publishing that first book validated her identity as a poet, and how writing it helped release her long-held fixation on the past.

We also discuss finding confidence as a performer within Vancouver's spoken word scene, learning to embrace joy and playfulness in the writing process, and the evolution that led to her newest collection, Be Water. Grace shares how the new book feels less like a return to old wounds and more like a continuation of healing, exploring relationships, identity, and self-understanding from a place of greater compassion and emotional clarity.

It's an honest and thoughtful conversation about creativity, healing, identity, and discovering that sometimes the language we're searching for is the one we learn to write ourselves.

Contact Grace:
Instagram: @thrillandgrace Website: grace-writes.com

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Joel Francois – Liars
Instagram: @thedapperdaydreamer

Fanta Ballo – Broken Hearts
Instagram: @fantaratty

Crystal Valentine – Little Known Fact
Instagram: @crystalvalentine94 Website: iamcrystalvalentine.com

The Legendary Black Ice – Who Would I Be
Instagram: @thelegendaryblackice

The Legendary Black Ice – Bigger Than Me
Instagram: @thelegendaryblackice

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In Volume Seven: Chapter Eleven we welcomed Buffalo, New York-born, Toronto-based Poet, Essayist, Educator, Biographer, and Author Molly Peacock. She earned her BA from Harpur College at Binghamton University and her MA from Johns Hopkins University. She has served as president of the Poetry Society of America, founded The Best Canadian Poetry series after moving to Canada, and her literary papers are housed at the Binghamton University Library. Molly is the author of numerous poetry collections, works of prose, and the memoir Paradise, Piece by Piece. Her latest collection is The Widow's Crayon Box.

In our conversation, we explore the creative foundation shaped by a family where books and writing were woven into everyday life. Molly reflects on her mother's voracious reading habits, her grandmother's lifelong practice of writing alongside the routines of daily life, and the teachers and mentors who encouraged her to think of herself as a writer long before she fully believed it herself.

We also trace her evolution as both an artist and a person, discussing what it meant to become the first in her family to attend college, the confidence she discovered during her years at Johns Hopkins, and how formal poetry became less about following rules than finding a structure capable of holding life's most powerful emotions.

Finally, we explore The Widow's Crayon Box, a collection born from the loss of her husband that reveals the many colors of widowhood rather than the single shade society often imagines. Molly reflects on the first twenty-eight days following his passing, the moment she realized she was beginning what she calls "the turn" into widowhood, and how the poems emerged naturally as a way to process grief, preserve love, and transform profound loss into art.

Contact Molly:
Instagram: @mollypeacockpoet Website: mollypeacock.org

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Arantza Garcia – Recipe Book
Instagram: @arantza.cgf

Ghetto Jedi The Poet – I Am Metaphor

Ayanna Florence – Boy Calls Me Pretty
Instagram: @poetnextdoor Blog: poetnextdoor.medium.com

Rundy Francisco – My Honesty Poem
Instagram: @rudyfrancisco Website: iamrudyfransicso.com

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

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In Volume Seven: Chapter Ten of the Program, we welcome Poet, Educator, and Author Isabelle Correa for an in-depth and thoughtful conversation about identity, faith, family, healing, and the long, often complicated journey toward becoming a writer.

Born in Moses Lake, Washington, Isabelle reflects on growing up in a household with twelve siblings, navigating feelings of loneliness despite never being alone, and being raised in a religious home where certain paths in life seemed predetermined. She shares how an early engagement, an unexpected change in direction, and a willingness to imagine a different future ultimately led her toward writing.

Our conversation explores her beginnings in creative nonfiction and her eventual discovery that poetry offered something narrative could not. We also discuss reclaiming spirituality outside organized religion, writing through trauma without forcing resolution, and allowing flawed, vulnerable voices to exist honestly on the page.

Along the way, Isabelle talks about the importance of writing communities, and how workshops, mentorship, and organizations like Gather Poets helped shape her development as a writer. We also discuss her forthcoming collection, Portrait of a Person Who Pushes Love Away in Fear of Losing It and Other Poems, and the winding path that brought her from Washington State to Mexico City.

Contact Isabelle:
Instagram @isabellecorreawrites Website: isabellecorrea.com

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

A Glowing Poet – Love, Eventually
Instagram: @aglowingpoet Website: thewomaniambecoming.com

Daniel Garwood – Hangman
Instagram: @doowrag.daniel Website: danielleegarwood.com

Shay The Poet – The First Time I Hated Myself
Instagram: @shay.thepoet

Matt Capone – Some Love Shit
Instagram: @matt__capone

Yex– Man Vs. Bear
Instagram: @yass_yex

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