Barry Coulter
Three award-winning Kootenay authors, Jane Byers, Leesa Dean, and Rayya Liebich, hit local libraries last week in Fernie (May 30) and Cranbrook (May 31), for author-readings and interactive events with established writers and the “poetry curious,” of whom there are many, as attendance indicated.
Leesa Dean, who was raised in Cranbrook and graduated from MBSS in 1999. is a creative writing instructor at Selkirk College. Her first book, Waiting for the Cyclone, was a finalist for the 2017 Trillium and Relit Awards. She is also the author of a novella in verse and two poetry chapbooks. Her poetry has been nominated for numerous awards, and she was runner-up for the international 2022 Pacific Spirit Prize.
Jane Byers, winner of the 2017 Goldie Award for lesbian poetry, lives with her wife and teenagers in Nelson, BC. She is the author of two poetry collections, one memoir, and a poetry chapbook. She has had poems and essays published in anthologies and literary journals in Canada, the U.S. and England, including Best Canadian Poetry 2014.
Rayya Liebich is a writer and educator of Lebanese and Polish descent. She is the author of an award-winning chapbook and full-length poetry collection, Min Hayati. A finalist in 7 CNF contests in the past two years including the CBC Nonfiction Prize, she is the 2022 winner of the international Amy MacRae Award for Memoir and The Federation of BC Writers Literary Contest.
The authors are grateful to the Columbia Basin Trust and Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance for tour funding and to the Fernie and Cranbrook Libraries for hosting the events.
