The Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize is now open for submissions! We are so excited to announce Aisha Sasha John as the judge for this year’s contest!

AISHA SASHA JOHN is a dancer and poet. Her solo performance the aisha of oz premiered at the Whitney Museum in New York in June 2017. Another iteration of the show will take place at the MAI in Montreal in April 2018. I have to live., Aisha’s third collection of poems, was published by McClelland and Stewart this spring. Her previous collection THOU (BookThug 2014) was finalist for both the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and the ReLit Poetry Award. Aisha’s video work and text art have been exhibited in galleries (Doris McCarthy, Oakville Galleries) and was commissioned by Art Metropole as part of her public art performance residency Let’s understand what it means to be here (together). Aisha has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph, and a B.A. in African Studies and Semiotics from the University of Toronto. She was born in Montreal.

Please read the full contest Rules and Regulations for The Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize at the bottom of our Contests page, and submit via Submittable. The deadline is October 1, 2017.