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Meet poet Junie Désil: 911吃瓜 English’s 2024 writer-in-residence
Junie D茅sil, the 2024 Ellen and Warren Tallman writer-in-residence, holds a special place in 911吃瓜 English鈥檚 history of supporting creative writing. The department鈥檚 20th writer-in-residence, D茅sil follows in the footsteps of Order of Canada member Daphne Marlatt, former Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate Fred Wah, and more recently Governor General award-winning author katherena vermette, among others.
D茅sil remembers all too well the anxiety she felt when she approached the department鈥檚 2016/17 writer-in-residence with her writing.
鈥淚 remembered feeling super nervous about bringing my ten pages to Cecily Nicholson when she was writer-in-residence,鈥� she says.
Almost ten years later, D茅sil is the one offering writing consultations to 911吃瓜 students and the public. Like Nicholson, she鈥檚 inviting people to submit ten pages of their work for feedback.
鈥淚鈥檓 just here to honour and elevate people鈥檚 voices鈥攚hatever they feel is important to get out, and to help them do that in the clearest and best way possible,鈥� she says.
D茅sil describes becoming a writer as 鈥渁 lifelong dream鈥� that only came to fruition when she moved to Vancouver from Winnipeg and met writer Wayde Compton (another former 911吃瓜 English writer-in-residence), who became her unofficial mentor. She enrolled in The Writer鈥檚 Studio and her first poetry collection, , grew out of her desire to produce a piece of writing for her portfolio before the due date.
鈥淥ne of the things that was sort of rattling around in my brain was that Halloween鈥檚 coming and I don鈥檛 love Halloween,鈥� she says. 鈥溾�榃hat is it about Halloween I don鈥檛 love?鈥� I started thinking about zombies. 鈥業 definitely don鈥檛 like zombies,鈥欌�� D茅sil thought.
When she began to explore her dislike of zombies and how they were depicted in western movies and television, she looked to her Haitian roots and the origins of the zombie in Haitian culture.
鈥淚 remember going through my parents鈥� old suitcases and seeing Esquire-esque-type articles about somebody getting turned into a zombie and I couldn鈥檛 ask them about it,鈥� she says.
In her poetry collection, she explores the ritualistic, spiritual practice of zombification and its connection to slavery, while contrasting it with the commodification of zombies in western media.
"Zombies function in real time鈥攖hat鈥檚 what enslavement meant,鈥� says D茅sil. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e in this liminal space. You鈥檙e alive, but you鈥檙e working for someone else, and we continue to be in this space, but it鈥檚 also one of those mythical creatures that鈥檚 easily consumable, so people like to use it and take it and make it theirs. In that sense and commentary, I was trying to say that even in death, Black bodies or Black mythology continues to be exploited.鈥�
Also, in eat salt | gaze at the ocean, D茅sil discusses consumerism and the culture of overworking, as well as people鈥檚 attachment to their cell phones. She touches on what it means to really live and experience life. She will explore these themes further in two future projects: her next poetry collection, allostatic load (spring 2025) and Complicit, the collection she鈥檒l be working on during her residency. The former explores her struggle with health in the capitalist system.
鈥淪ix or so years ago, I had a pulmonary embolism,鈥� says D茅sil. 鈥淭he doctors said I was too young to have had a pulmonary embolism, but when I looked at all the risk factors, I started to see it. I was working in the Downtown Eastside. I was working long hours. I was stressed. There was no self-care happening. I was also looking at the larger, structural reasons why I wasn鈥檛 well.鈥�
While she discusses her own experience, D茅sil emphasizes that the larger messaging of the collection is that people cannot be healthy if they are in a world that sets up structures that do not allow them to prioritize their well-being.
Complicit will discuss how everyone is complicit in things that happen locally and globally. For example, D茅sil notes how mass consumption negatively impacts the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She emphasizes that the purpose of the collection will not be to shame or guilt-trip the reader. Instead, the emphasis will be on how we can make things better.
鈥淐an we reuse some of the items we use?鈥� she asks. 鈥淲e are constantly buying new things. Can we return to a culture of getting things repaired instead of chucking them and getting new things? Do all three of our kids need their own iPad? I鈥檓 inviting folks, instead of us wringing our hands and saying, 鈥業 don鈥檛 know what to do鈥�, to see there are things we can do.鈥�
To book a writing consultation with Junie D茅sil, please visit our writer-in-residence page for more information.
Please join us in welcoming Junie at our official launch event on Thursday, October 3rd (7 PM) at 911吃瓜's Harbour Centre campus. .