Although Cassandra Myers has been writing poetry since childhood, her passion for poetry really took off at age 17 with Toronto’s Bam Poetry Slam.
The 2025 Poetry Award winner is having a banner year creatively: the Toronto resident is currently the artist-in-residence on Gabriola Island in British Columbia where they are working on an installation using oyster shells and printing poems on them as well as offering poetry workshops in the island community. The island, also known as ‘Isle of the Arts’, sits five kilometres from Nanaimo in the Salish Sea and hosts the Kasahara Gabriola Trust Artist Residency.
Asked how they would encourage other emerging artists, Myers said, “Follow your obsessions. Be a curator of them. Spend a lot of time collecting words, concepts, images and being a tea leaf reader. Then let the work arise.”
When this residency ends, this multidisciplinary artist who also dances and paints, will stay in Vancouver to work with their book mentor before returning to Toronto for another residency on Toronto Islands which is part of being named a 2026 Writers’ Trust Rising Star to complete edits on their book manuscript. That book of poetry is expected to be published in 2027.
After that, Myers will start a disabled dance mentorship with Rachel Gorman in Disabled Studies at York University while writing a second book and making another edition of their clam shell poetry.
In 2026 so far, their writing has received the League of Canadian Poets COLD MOON Contest Spoken Word Award, Malahat Review’s Open Season Award, and they have won titles including the Briarpatch Writing in the Margins.
Myers grew up in Richmond Hill and completed a bachelor’s degree in Arts, Child and Youth Care at Toronto Metropolitan University in 2018 while participating in poetry slams. “All my studies were about supporting youth poets, with poetry as a therapeutic tool,” they said. “I worked with youth who had been in schools, hospitals and shelter system.” They continued their studies at York University, earning a Master of Social Work degree in 2023.
When this residency ends, Myers, who also dances and paints, will stay in Vancouver to work with their book mentor before returning to Toronto for another residency on Toronto Islands which is part of being named a 2026 Writers’ Trust Rising Star to complete edits on their book manuscript. That book of poetry is expected to be published in 2027.
With the help of “great grant writers and help with finances”, Myers has won enough awards, residencies, and received enough grant money to devote themself to creating art. Recently, to make use of two degrees, Myers also started a private therapy practice as a social worker.
On Gabriola Island, Myers has the house alone. They enjoy the peace and quiet but acknowledge creating means day-to-day chores such as washing dishes and laundry fall behind. “I need to be in the middle of nowhere. It forces you to choose yourself. The nagging command of creating won’t let me rest,” they said.
“If I hear a line in my head as I’m washing dishes, I can choose to stop and write it down or let that line go. I have an ADHD rhythm for work. It’s either zero or 200 percent.”
Asked how they would encourage other emerging artists, Myers said, “Follow your obsessions. Be a curator of them. Spend a lot of time collecting words, concepts, images and being a tea leaf reader. Then let the work arise.”
“It’s like a horse running wild in a field with a fence in the distance, which gives structure.”