Born in Zimbabwe, Yvonne Blomer came to Canada at age two. She completed a Master's degree at the University of East Anglia. She organizes the Planet Earth Poetry Reading Series in Victoria. This led her to co-edit Poems from Planet Earth (Leaf Press, 2013) with Cynthia Woodman Kerkham, featuring 117 poems from the Planet Earth Poetry platform in Victoria that is named after the late P.K. Page's poem 'Planet Earth.' 978-1-926655-58-1

Her first book of poems, "a broken mirror, fallen leaf" (Ekstasis, 2006) was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial award.

As If a Raven (Palimpsest Press, 2014), offers the reader a fresh way to see the natural world through a series of complex portraits drawing on myth, history and ornithological lore.

She published a memoir, Sugar Ride: Cycling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur (Palimpsest Press, 2017) about her three months cycling with her husband through Southeast Asia. A type one diabetic, Blomer chronicles her daily travails as well as her passion for cycling as she explores Vietnam, Malaysia, Laos and Thailand.

BOOKS:

a broken mirror, fallen leaf (Ekstasis, 2006)

Landscapes and Home (Leaf Press, 2011)

The Book of Places (Black Moss, 2012 / Palimpsest, 2022)

Bicycle Brand Jury (JackPine Press, 2012)

Caged (Palimpsest Press, 2014)

As If a Raven (Palimpsest Press, 2014) 978-1-926794-19-8

Sugar Ride: Cycling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur (Palimpsest Press, 2017) $19.95 978-1-92679439-6

Editor. Refugium: Poems for the Pacific (Caitlin 2017) $22.95 978-1-987915-53-2

Editor. Sweet Water: Poems for the Watersheds (Caitlin 2020) $22.95 978-1-77386022-0

[BCBW 2022] "Poetry"

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Press Release

Nanaimo, BC: May 22, 2019 -- Victoria poet Yvonne Blomer is the 2019 recipient of the Federation of BC Writers' (FBCW) Honourary Ambassador Award. Launched in 2015, the Honourary Ambassador Award is given in recognition of a person whose work and achievements in the community bring attention to the value of writers and writing.


"Yvonne Blomer is an amazing poet whose broad-ranging work around the literary community sets a remarkable example and serves as an inspiration to all of us," said Ann Graham Walker, president of the FBCW, in announcing the award.

Blomer served as the City of Victoria's poet laureate from 2015-2018 and worked tirelessly to host readings, read at events, mentor poets and bring poetry into unexpected places. During her tenure she edited the anthology Refugium: Poems for the Pacific (Caitlin Press, 2017) and launched it at the Maritime Museum with musicians, artists who responded to a selection of poems, dancers and poets.

Her focus as poet laureate was to draw attention to the plight of the ocean. She also launched Sugar Ride: Cycling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur (Palimpsest Press, 2017) and two chap books, Elegies for Earth (Leaf Press), Overleaf Chapbook Contest 2017 winner, and Ravine, Mouse, a Bird's Beak, Nose (Book Publishing, 2018) -- the chapbook which grew out of her ekphrastic show at the Robert Bateman Centre from October 2018 to January 2019, where she served as artist-in-residence.

Yvonne co-edited Poems from Planet Earth with Cynthia Woodman Kerkham (Leaf Press, 2013), an anthology out of the Planet Earth Poetry reading series, She has published three books of poetry: As if a Raven (Palimpsest Press), The Book of Places, and a broken mirror, fallen leaf, which was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award in 2007.

The Honourary Ambassador Award comes with a lifetime membership to the FBCW. Past recipients are Naomi Beth Wakan, David Fraser and Wendy Morton.