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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In Volume Seven: Chapter One of the Program, we welcome Houston, Texas–born and based Educator, Playwright, Actress, Writer, Author, and Performance Poet Ebony Stewart. She is the 2017 Woman of the World Slam Champion, a three-time Austin Neo Soul Slam Champion, a B. Iden Payne Award recipient, and the David Mark Cohen New Play Award winner. She is also the author of four books, including her latest poetry collection Wash, which was recently named an Honors Award winner by the Texas Institute of Letters.

In our conversation, Ebony reflects on what that recognition for Wash actually means—not just as an acknowledgment of the work itself, but as an outside validation of her writing acumen. We talk about the evolution of her voice, the version of herself that shows up in this collection, and how periods of creative difficulty—graduate school where writing poetry became difficult—shaped the way she approaches the page now.

We also spend time sitting with something a lot of artists tend to move past too quickly: accomplishment. With a résumé as extensive as hers, Ebony discusses how often she truly pauses to take it in.

Ebony opens up about the leap into becoming a full-time creative—what it looked like before that transition, the grind of balancing teaching with constant travel and performance, and the moment she decided to bet on herself. From there, we get into confidence: what it’s made of, how authenticity, self-awareness, and emotional honesty factor into it, and how she’s learned to carry heavy things like grief without letting them define every room she walks into.

Contact Ebony:
Website: ebpoetry.com Instagram: @gullyprincess

Recorded Spoken Word Performances Featured Include:

Nayo Jones – We Will Not Ask
Instagram: @nayojones Website: nayojones.com

Jay Ward – Gentrification
Instagram: @jayward2030

Alysia Harris – Controlled Burn
Instagram: @poppyinthewheat Website: alysiaharris.com

Ebony Stewart: How We Forget (After Loyce Gayo)
Ebony Stewart: Single

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