Wild Prose

A prose-based reading series in Victoria, BC

January 30th, 2025

Please join us on Thursday, January 30th for Cult Lit with Carly Butler (reading from her debut memoir, Apocalypse Child: Surviving Doomsday and the Search for Identity at the End of the World ), Sonja Larsen (reading from her memoir, Red Star Tattoo: My Life as a Girl Revolutionary), and Kyeren Regehr (reading from her memoir in poetry, Cult Life).

Doors: 6:30 p.m. Open mic: 7:00 p.m. Featured readers: 7:30 p.m.

at Paul Phillips Hall, 1923 Fernwood Road

$5 CASH admission

Authors’ books will be for sale at the event

Please bring CASH for admission and books

The evening will begin with an open mic at 7:00 p.m. Bring some writing of any genre to share (poetry is very welcome): 1 minute of prose or 1 poem. The open mic on January 30th will be opened by UVic MFA in creative writing student, Holly Loveday.

Carly Butler

Carly Butler is an Indigequeer disability mom and author after over a decade of being an undocumented immigrant, babysitter, house cleaner and birth doula. She is currently raising her family in Langley, BC.

Sonja Larsen

Sonja Larsen’s memoir Red Star Tattoo: My Life As A Girl Revolutionary (Random House Canada) was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writer's Trust and won the Edna Staebler Creative Non-Fiction award. Her short work has appeared in anthologies and literary publications in the US, Canada and the UK.

Kyeren Regehr

Kyeren Regehr’s Cult Life was a finalist for the ReLit Awards and The Victoria Butler Book Prize; Disassembling A Dancer won the Raven Chapbooks award. Her work has been published  in Canada, Australia, and the USA, and thrice-longlisted for the CBC Poetry Awards. She served as an editor on the poetry board of The Malahat Review and is the Artistic Director of Planet Earth Poetry. Kyeren lives and writes with gratitude on the unceded homelands of the W̱SÁNEĆ people.

Coming up on March 13th, 2025

The launch of Soundin’ Canaan: Black Canadian Poetry, Music, and Citizenship, with readings and music from Paul db Watkins and Wayde Compton.

Some steps toward reconciliation

We hold this reading series on the unceded territories of the lək̓ʷəŋən people, also known as the Xwsepsum and Songhees First Nations. Here is some more information about these nations and how to support local Indigenous peoples and artists:

Past Events

  • November 6th, 2024: Raising Daughters, Raising Mothers, Raising Voices

  • November 6th, 2024: Kyeren Regehr opens the open mic

  • November 6th, 2024: Minelle Mahtani

  • November 6th, 2024: Arleen Paré

  • November 6th, 2024: Ayelet Tsabari

  • November 6th, 2024: Raising Daughters, Raising Mothers, Raising Voices

  • October 10th, 2024 Alice in Monsterland: A roundtable discussion about Alice Munro and other "art monsters." Moderated by Justina Elias, with Kathryn Mockler, Suzanne Methot, and Julie Paul

  • October 10th, 2024 Open Mic opener Eva Haas

  • July 25th, 2024 Short Story Summer

  • July 25th, 2024 Short Story Summer

  • July 25th, 2024 Open Mic opener Eli Mushumanski

  • July 25th, 2024 Danila Botha

  • July 25th, 2024 Corinna Chong

  • July 25th, 2024 Jen Currin

  • June 27th, 2024 Innocence Lost

  • June 27th, 2024 Open Mic opener Meghan Reyda-Molnar

  • June 27th, 2024 Lily Grace

  • June 27th, 2024 Amy Mattes

  • June 27th, 2024 Karen Lee White

  • June 27th, 2024 Innocence Lost

  • May 30th, 2024 BACK to the Future!

  • May 30th 2024 Open Mic opener Aldyn Chwelos

  • May 30th, 2024 Astrid Blodgett

  • May 30th, 2024 Kevin Chong

  • May 30th, 2024 Lori Hahnel

  • May 30th, 2024 BACK to the Future!

  • January 25th, 2024 The Subversives

  • January 25th, 2024 Open Mic Opener Justina Elias

  • January 25th, 2024 JD Derbyshire

  • January 25th, 2024 Kathryn Mockler

  • January 25th, 2024 Emi Sasagawa

  • January 25th, 2024

  • September 25, 2023 Family Grief and Grievances

  • September 25, 2023 Open Mic Opener Catherine St. Denis

  • September 25, 2023 Ali Bryan reads from Coq

  • September 25, 2023 Stephanie Harrington reads from "The Fighter"

  • September 25, 2023 Chelsea Wakelyn reads from What Remains of Elsie Jane

  • September 25, 2023 Family Grief and Grievances

  • September 25, 2023 Family Grief and Grievances

  • August 24, 2023 Troubled Towns and Waters

  • August 24, 2023 Troubled Towns and Waters

  • August 24, 2023 Open mic opener Sandy Ibrahim

  • August 24, 2023 Open mic opener Rachael Moorthy

  • August 24, 2023 Troubled Towns and Waters

  • August 24, 2023 Curtis LeBlanc

  • August 24, 2023 Michael Melgaard

  • August 24, 2023 Mike Sadava

  • May 25, 2023: Earth-Shattering Prose

  • May 25, 2023: Earth-Shattering Prose

  • May 25, 2023: Earth-Shattering Prose

  • May 25, 2023 Catherine St. Denis at the open mic

  • May 25, 2023 Kayla Czaga at the open mic

  • May 25, 2023 Gregor Craigie

  • May 25, 2023 Jen Neale

  • May 25, 2023 Frances Peck

  • May 25, 2023 Eliza Robertson

  • March 30, 2023: West-Coast Lit

  • March 30, 2023 Cedar Bowers

  • March 30, 2023 Margot Fedoruk

  • March 30, 2023 Andrea Routley

  • January 26, 2023

  • January 26, 2023 Pauline Holdstock

  • January 26, 2023 Rachel Lachmansingh

  • January 26, 2023 Erica McKeen

Since January, 2023, Wild Prose is a reading series in Victoria primarily for prose authors that mixes touring authors with locals, and emerging authors with established authors. Every evening begins with an Open Mic opened by a local contributor to The Malahat Review.

We meet three times per year, in the fall, in January, and in May, at 6:30 p.m. Open mic begins at 7:00 and featured readers at 7:30 p.m. All readings take place at Paul Phillps Hall (The Little Fernwood), 1923 Fernwood Rd in Victoria

2025 Schedule:

January 30th, March 13th, May 29th

If you would like to read, help out, or be included in our email list to hear about upcoming readings, please send a message to:

susan.sanford.blades [at] gmail [dot] com

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