Winner of the 2021 Raven Chapbooks Poetry Contest, Kyeren Regehr has published the poems in Disassembling a Dancer (Raven Chapbooks $22.95), an insider's revelations of a dancer's life. Regehr writes about the dark side of ballet including the physical pain and the strict diets -- "1/4 piece of toast / no butter" -- all for the love of beautiful movement. Fellow poet, Tim Lilburn says Regehr's language "is trim, muscled, momentumed" and that it "soars."

Regehr's first collection, Cult Life (Pedlar Press), was shortlisted for the 2020 ReLit Awards.

She holds an MFA in Writing from the University of Victoria, and served for several years on the poetry board of The Malahat Review. Her work has been published in literary journals and anthologies in Canada, Australia and America. Kyeren was born in Sydney, Australia, but was raised as a writer in Canada.

PHOTO CREDIT: Regina Akhankina

Books:

Disassembling a Dancer (Raven Chapbooks, 2021) $22.95 9780973440881

Cult Life (Pedlar Press, 2020) $20 978-1989424001

[BCBW 2021]