Songs of Hope and Hunger: An Evening of Poetry with Jake Skeets and Billy-Ray Belcourt

April 23, 2026

Authors and poets Billy-Ray Belcourt and Jake Skeets joined us for an evening of poetry and discussion, speaking about their latest collections from Penguin Random House Canada.

Billy-Ray Belcourt (he/him) is from the Driftpile Cree Nation in northwest Alberta. He won the Griffin Poetry Prize for his debut collection, This Wound is a World. He has been nominated twice for the Governor General's Literary Award: for his debut poetry collection and for his memoir, A History of My Brief Body. His fiction works, A Minor Chorus and Coexistence, were both national bestsellers. His most recent poetry collection, The Idea of an Entire Life, was published on September 9, 2025, and was named a Best Canadian Poetry Book of 2025 by CBC Books. He is an Associate Professor in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. Originally from Joussard, AB, he now calls Vancouver, BC, home.

Website: https://billy-raybelcourt.com

Jake Skeets is the author of Eyes Bottle Dark with a Mouthful of Flowers, selected by the National Poetry Series and winner of the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and an American Book Award. A Whiting Award recipient from the Navajo Nation, he was appointed the Nation's third Poet Laureate. He published his second collection, Horses, on March 24, 2026. He is an assistant professor of English at the University of Oklahoma. Originally from New Mexico, he now resides in Oklahoma.

Website: https://jakeskeets.com

 

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