14 Canadian poets to watch in 2018

April is National Poetry Month!Looking forsome exciting poetry to read in celebration? Here are 14 poets who reflect the enduring strength of the literary form in this country.

Billy-Ray Belcourt

Billy-Ray Belcourtis aRhodes Scholar and PhD student from DriftpileCree Nation in Alberta. His debut collection of poetry,This Wound is a World,merges the personal with the academic, envisioning a "decolonialkind of heaven that is searchable, findable" and iscurrentlyon the shortlist for the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize.

• Why poetry matters to Griffin Poetry Prize finalist Billy-Ray Belcourt

Dani Couture

DaniCoutureis a Toronto-based poet and novelist. Her latest collection,Listen Before Transmit, explores the human condition through the spaces we live in as well as the spaces, physical and emotional, between us.

Adam Dickinson

Adam Dickinson's collection of poetry acts as a juxtapositionof the notions of "outside" and "inside," on a chemical and biological level. His bookAnatomicexplores the notion of what makes us human and how much the materials that make us, define us. Dickinson was a finalist for the 2016CBCPoetry Prize.

Kayla Geitzler

Kayla Geitzler is a poet based in Moncton. Her latest book, That Light Feeling Under Your Feet, is an exploration of what it is like working on a cruise ship and the isolation, alienation, racism, assimilation and marginalization that comes with working in the tourism industry.

Emma Healey

Emma Healey is a poet and writer based in Toronto. Her second collection,Stereoblind, is a series of prose poems that explores the many ways the modern world is askew, from fake news to malleable borders to the artisty that can be found in shopping at big box stores.

Aisha Sasha John

Aisha Sasha John is a dancer and poet. Her sophomore collection Thou landed her on shortlists for the Trillium Book Award for Poetry and ReLit Poetry Award. Her latest is I have to live, a collection of poetry shortlisted for the 2018 Griffin Poetry Prize.

• Why Aisha Sasha John believes poetry is the scholarship of 'aliveness'

Jeff Latosik

Jeff Latosik is a an award-winning Toronto-based poet. His latest collection,Dreampad,delves into a world of cold metal, wires and machinations and exploresjust how interconnected our lives are with the virtual world.

• 12 Canadian poetic works to discover in the first half of 2018

Canisia Lubrin

Canisia Lubrinhas published poetry, fiction, nonfiction and criticism. Her debut poetry collection,Voodoo Hypothesis,uses both modern language and folklore toexplore race, oppression and colonialism.

• CanisiaLubrinevokes the folkloric magic of St. Lucia in a poetic takedown of contemporary racism

Robin Richardson

Robin Richardson a poet based in Toronto. She is the author of three collections of poetry; her latest is calledSit How You Want, a collection which uses poetic wit to address themes of abuse, anxiety and powerlessness.

Laura Ritland

Laura Ritland is a poet based in Vancouver. She received Malahat Review's Far Horizon Award for Poetry in 2014 and is a current PhD student at the University of California, Berkeley. Her debut poetry book, East and West, looks at diversity of thought, geography and sensation using vibrant language and lyrical cadence.

Mallory Tater

Mallory Tater is the publisher of the chapbook pressRahila's Ghost Press and the author of the poetry collectionThis Will Be Good. This Will Be Goodexplores the experiences of a young woman as she squares up against an eating disorder.

• 12 Canadian poetic works to discover in the first half of 2018

Kai Cheng Thom

Kai Cheng Thom is a writer and social worker.She has taken her poetry from the stage to the page in a place called No Homeland, which is an intimate journey through topics like gender, race and sexuality. Many of the poems emerge from her story of navigating identity as a Chinese Canadian transgender woman.

• Why poet Kai Cheng Thom believes there's power in being vulnerable

Phoebe Wang

Phoebe Wang is an Ottawa-born poet and author. As the daughter of immigrants from Hong Kong, Wang has often pondered the issue of identity. In her debut poetry collection Admission Requirements, Wang explores stories of the land and searches for a secure sense of belonging.

• Why Phoebe Wang explores Canada's landscape in her poetry

Joshua Whitehead

Joshua Whitehead is a two-spirit poet andscholar who is currently working toward hisPhDinIndigenous literatureat the University of Calgary.His collection of poetry, full-metal indigiqueer, deals with the decolonization and resurgence of the Indigenous queer identity.

• Why Joshua Whitehead wants to recentre Indigenous characters with his cyberpunk-infused poetry