Free online event – A Word About Mental Health
Hello! A heartfelt invitation to another episode of A Word About Mental Health!
Please come and hear from five writers and join in the conversation! We’ll be covering topics as wide ranging as anxiety, ADHD, PTSD, isolation, depression, OCD, bipolar disorder, addiction, and more.
Date: Tuesday, March 24
Time: 5:30 Vancouver time (PDT)
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81329231163?pwd=1UWalM8MefpW3VJ6mC4BTjblXCNPhB.1
Meeting ID: 813 2923 1163, Passcode: 519851
Brief bios of our writers, with longer ones following:
Known as Canada’s Mary Oliver, Cynthia Sharp is the Writers International Network Vancouver Poet Laureate. She’s the author of Ordinary Light, The Zen of Poetry, and the children’s fantasy series, The Light Bearers in the Sand Dollar Graviton.
Sheilagh MacDonald is on the executive of Burnaby Writers and was a news reader and beat reporter for a local radio station, and a feature writer and columnist for Now Newspapers. More recently, Sheilagh was the Communication Chair for CUPE 3338 at SFU over a number of years.
Chelsea Comeau is a freelance writer, editor, and web designer. Her work has appeared in Room, CV2, and subTerrain, among other literary magazines. In 2024, she was one of two winners selected by Lorna Crozier for Planet Earth Poetry’s Tribute to Patrick Lane poetry contest.
Lara Varesi, the President of the Burnaby Writers Society has read for and hosted many events, including Spoken INK, Art and Poetry in the Gallery, Mashed Poetics, Word Whips, Poetic Justice, Twisted Poets, Poetry in the Park, Poetic Pairings, and the Dominion Reading Series.
Isabella Mori writes pretty much everything that’s not nailed down: Short and long fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Their latest book “Believe Me” combines poetry, stories, interviews and research about mental health and addiction.
More about the authors:
Known as Canada’s Mary Oliver, Cynthia Sharp is the Writers International Network Vancouver Poet Laureate. She’s the author of Ordinary Light, a first-prize winner in the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society Book Awards for BC Authors, as well as in the International Impact Book Awards in the Sustainability and Contemporary Poetry categories. She also penned Rainforest in Russet, The Zen of Poetry, and the children’s fantasy series, The Light Bearers in the Sand Dollar Graviton. Her books are in most Canadian libraries, while excerpts of her fiction, poems, creative nonfiction and reviews can be found in many literary journals including CV2, untethered,The Pitkin Review and Prism and have been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net Anthology.
Sheilagh MacDonald is on the executive of Burnaby Writers. She belongs to a number of local writing societies as well as a presentation group. Professionally, Sheilagh has a Broadcast Journalism diploma from BCIT. She was a news reader and beat reporter for a local radio station, a feature writer and columnist for Now Newspapers. More recently, Sheilagh was the Communication Chair for CUPE 3338 at SFU over a number of years.
Chelsea Comeau is a freelance writer, editor, and web designer. Her work has appeared in Room, CV2, and subTerrain, among other literary magazines. In 2024, she was one of two winners selected by Lorna Crozier for Planet Earth Poetry’s Tribute to Patrick Lane poetry contest, and in 2025 she was the winner of the People’s Choice category for CV2’s 2-Day Poem Contest.
On her poetry journey, Lara has read for and hosted many events, including Art and Poetry in the Gallery, Mashed Poetics, Word Whips, Poetic Justice, Twisted Poets, Poetry in the Park, Poetic Pairings, and the Dominion Reading Series. Lara was most recently published in the anthology “Composed” by Delta Literary Arts Society and is featured in the anthology “Royal City Poets” by the Royal City Literary Arts Society. As the president of Burnaby Writers’ Society, Lara organizes and hosts their reading series Spoken INK.
Isabella Mori writes pretty much everything that’s not nailed down: Fiction (a 15th century monk whose best friend is a comfrey plant), nonfiction (“All the way from the eocene on Highway 400”), and poetry (lots of haiku.) Their great love is hybrid text (haibun!). Their latest book “Believe Me” combines poetry, stories, interviews and research about mental health and addiction. They run Canada’s most unusual poetry prize, Muriel’s Journey, for which the entry fee is showing how the poet contributes to their community. They live on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh aka Vancouver, Canada.
See you there!
Isabella
