This is our 5th episode of Liars of Orpheus. This one features Alessandra Nacarrato, Mark Perez, Michael V Smith and Naomi Steinberg and our fabulous host Lucia Misch.

Alessandra Naccarato is the author of Imminent Domains: Reckoning with the Anthropocene (Essays) and Re-Origin of Species (Poems). Based in Tkaronto (Toronto), she is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the Bronwen Wallace Award from the Writers' Trust of Canada and the CBC Poetry Prize. A founding editor of Write Bloody North Publications, she has toured nationally and internationally as a spoken word artist and supported emerging writers across the country for nearly two decades.

Her work has been translated into French and Italian and appeared widely in publications such as Arc, CV2, The New Quarterly, and Room Magazine. Re-Origin of Species was awarded the AICW Bressani Literary Prize for Poetry, nominated for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award, shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and named a Best Book of 2019 by CBC Books.

Marc Perez is a Filipino poet and writer living in the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh nations. His fiction, creative nonfiction, and poetry have appeared in The Fiddlehead, EVENT Magazine, decomp journal, CV2, PRISM international, and Vallum, among others.

Michael V. Smith is a writer, performer, and filmmaker focusing on intersections with class, gender, and sexuality. Smith has won many awards for his work and creative activism. His first feature film, The Floating Man, won Director’s Choice at Cinema Diverse, the Palm Springs queer film festival. His latest poetry book, Queers Like Me, explores growing up queer and blue collar, with verbatim and devised performance as alternative approaches for writing.

Born on Canada's supernatural westcoast, in beautiful Coast Salish territories, of French and Jewish descent, Naomi Steinberg is an internationally recognized artist and storyteller. She has brought traditional folk stories, fairy tales and community-based art projects to life in countries around the world since 2001.

Lucia Misch is a writer, performer and facilitator from unceded Muwekma Ohlone land. Lucia's spoken word poetry has found a home everywhere from historic theaters to high school auditoriums, and their first collection of poetry, The Problem With Solitaire, was released by Write Bloody North in 2020.

The Seventeen Syllable is community driven event where poets compete in an effort to win a cash prize and a tiara. We at Death Rides a Unicorn believe this to be an excuse to come together, to laugh, to share space and time and to celebrate each other.

The poets will be judged by 5 random members of the audience who will sport furry flags instead of score cards. We will dole out chocolate, as we do with all our events, and encourage people to wear costumes if they wish.

This is our 4th episode of Liars of Orpheus. This one features Aaron Hunter, Dex Neily, Lydia Kwa and Stephen Collis. This is also the Death Rides a Unicorn hosting debut of the fabulous Lucia Misch.

Lucia Misch is a writer, performer and facilitator from unceded Muwekma Ohlone land. Lucia's spoken word poetry has found a home everywhere from historic theaters to high school auditoriums, and their first collection of poetry, The Problem With Solitaire, was released by Write Bloody North in 2020.

Aaron Hunter (he/him) is a poet, performer, visual artist and student. He produces and hosts "Brave Voices," the weekly poetry open mic in Port Moody. In between classes and work you can find him writing on topics such as identity, community and healing. His debut chapbook "The Archives" is set to be released by the end of 2024.

Dex Neily (they/them) is a poet and performer from Lekwungen territories whose work centres around disability and queer identity. They have represented Victoria nationally and internationally at seven spoken word festivals, and was a finalist at both the 2021 and 2022 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam. They are currently seeking new ways to combine their loves and their pains into art that restores those who experience it. You can find their work on YouTube or hear them perform at the Tongues of Fire open mics run by the Victoria Poetry Project. Their list of superpowers include compassion and former-theatre-kid energy levels.

Lydia Kwa has published two books of poetry (The Colours of Heroines, 1992; sinuous, 2013) and five novels (This Place Called Absence, 2000; The Walking Boy, 2005 and 2019; Pulse, 2010 and 2014; Oracle Bone, 2017; A Dream Wants Waking, 2023). A third book of poetry from time to new will be published by Porcupine's Quill Press in Fall 2024.

Stephen Collis is the author of a dozen books of poetry and prose, including The Commons(2008), the BC Book Prize winning On the Material (2010), Once in Blockadia (2016), and Almost Islands: Phyllis Webb and the Pursuit of the Unwritten (2018)—all published by Talonbooks.

A History of the Theories of Rain (2021) was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for poetry, and in 2019, Collis was the recipient of the Writers’ Trust of Canada Latner Poetry Prize. He lives near Vancouver, on unceded Coast Salish Territory, and teaches poetry and poetics at Simon Fraser University.

Brave Voices is a community open mic based out of Port Moody that draws people from the Tri Cities and beyond. Though most of the readers and performers are poets, our mic is open to musicians, comedians, story tellers, etc. Our only rule is that you can’t be jerk. We don’t want to hear anything racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, etc. To use an old fashioned phrase, leave your hate at the gate.

The event is by donation and we encourage you to tip your servers well at Brave Brewing, from which our little show takes place. The venue has been lovely to us and regularly gives away prizes because they love our community. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Aaron (the founder of the show) at aaron@deathridesaunicorn.com.