Featuring: Justine Abigail Yu (Living Hyphen), Maria Barbu (Polyglot Magazine), Luciana Erregue-Sacchi (Laberinto Press), and Kathryn Lennon (Hungry Zine)
Moderator: Medgine Mathurin
Tickets: $5 (student/low income), $15 (regular)

JUSTINE ABIGAIL YU (she/her) is the founder of Living Hyphen, a community and multimedia platform that explores what it means to live in between cultures as a hyphenated Canadian – that is, an individual who calls Canada home but who has roots elsewhere.

She is an award-winning workshop facilitator whose work with Living Hyphen has been featured on national and local media outlets including the Globe & Mail, the Toronto Star, CTV National News, and the CBC. She was also named a “Changemaker” by the Toronto Star in October 2021.

Justine Abigail is a fierce advocate for equity and anti-oppression. Her mission is to stir the conscience and spur social change. Learn more at www.justineabigail.com and www.livinghyphen.ca.

Social Media: You can find Justine across all social media platforms at @justineabigail and/or Living Hyphen at @livinghyphen.

MARIA TEODORA BARBU is a self-published author of her debut, limited-run chapbook, The Circle’s Cycle. Her work has been published in The Polyglot Magazine and several Stroll of Poets Anthologies. She was a Top 20 Finalist for Poetry Moves on Transit in Fall 2018, and has been featured as part of the Edmonton Poetry Festival in 2019. She also received a partial scholarship to participate in the 2018 Disquiet International Literary Program in Lisbon, Portugal, where she studied under accomplished artists including Arthur Flowers and Denise Duhamel. Maria is fascinated by the poetry and art that lives in this evolving space of conscious Romanian- Canadian identity. She is interested in the power of poetry and art to hold space for the sacredness of our world. She strives to create pieces that rumble yet calm, that awaken and inspire, that call us to connect to our inner flames and to each and one another.

LUCIANA ERREGUE-SACCHI is an award winning publisher (Laberinto Press), art historian, translator, author (Of Mothers and Madonna, Polyglot 2023) and cultural worker. Luciana has presented at LitFest, Edmonton Poetry Fest, and Banff Centre. Her work and translations have appeared in academic publications, Polyglot Magazine, AGNI, and others and she has been featured on CBC Edmonton, Radio Canada, Quill and Quire, Literary Review of Canada, Westword, and Edmonton Journal. She is an activist for freedom to read and an advocate for hyphened Canadian literature.

KATHRYN LENNON 君妍 is a poet, community planner, and the co-founder and co-editor of Hungry Zine. She was born and raised, and resides in Edmonton/Amiskwacîwâskahikan. Her poetry has been published in Canthius, Polyglot Magazine, Living Hyphen, and the Globe and Mail, and included in anthologies: Reimagining Fire: the Future of Energy (Durvile & UpRoute), Back Where I Came From (Book*hug Press), and Beyond Touch Sites (Laberinto Press).

MEDGINE MATHURIN (Moderator): Haitian-born spoken word artist and advocate, Medgine is someone for whom the love of language and the alchemy of words comes naturally. Her multilingual upbringing (French, Creole, and English) not only encouraged her to explore the potential and magic of language but also nurtured a deep love of poetry. 

Over the years, Medgine has been diagnosed with Lupus (SLE), CIDP, Polymyositis, and Raynaud’s — experiences that have fueled her commitment to merge storytelling with patient advocacy, particularly for those living with chronic illnesses. She currently serves as Chair of the Patient and Family Advisory Committee with Health Quality Alberta, a provincial committee that promotes patient-centered care across the health system.

Her work has been featured on CBC, Global TV, at SkirtsAfire Festival, and the Edmonton Poetry Festival. Medgine is a two-time recipient of awards from the National Black Coalition of Canada (NBCC), having received the Fil Fraser Award for outstanding contributions to the literary and performing arts, and the Dr. John Akabutu Award for demonstrating resilience in the face of significant challenges.

Medgine was selected as a participant in the 2022 Mentorship Program with the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and became a mentor in the 2022 Horizon Writers Circle, a mentorship program for Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC), ESL, and underrepresented writers living in Edmonton.

In 2023, she received the Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award from the Edmonton Arts Council and the Edmonton Community Foundation — an award granted to exceptional local artists to support their creative work and encourage their continued presence in the community.She is the author of the multilingual chapbook Waiting in the Land of the Living / Attendre dans le monde des vivants. She has recently been named the Edmonton 11th Poet Laureate.