Poet Susan McCaslin shares work at the Fort Gallery

A Fort Langley poet who has published 15 volumes of poetry will be sharing her work at a free event next month.

Susan McCaslin will be reading from Into the Open: Poems New and Selected at the Fort Gallery’s First Thursday evening on Feb. 1 from 7 to 9 p.m.

This free event is held at the gallery on the first Thursday of each month, and features a variety of visual artists, musicians, writers and poets from the local community.

McCaslin is an established Canadian poet and Faculty Emeritus of English and Creative Writing at Douglas College.

Her published work includes the memoir Into the Mystic: My Years with Olga, the volume of essays Arousing the Spirit and the award winning book Her Demeter Goes Skydiving, which was the first place winner of the Alberta Book Publishing Award and was short-listed for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize.

Into the Open is a collection of poems written over the last four decades. It starts with McCaslin’s early interest in mystical Christianity, and expands to include global wisdom traditions from cultures east and west.

Joining McCaslin at this month’s First Thursday are a number of artists from the Fort Gallery’s Winter Solstice exhibition, running until Feb. 4.

The poetry night is also being held in conjunction with Art Wine & Cheese, a free event from 4 to 6 p.m. at ReMax Little Oak Realty, 9220 Glover Rd. This event features artwork by Langley’s Susan J Falk.

The Fort Gallery is located at 9048 Glover Rd.