Western University’s new writer-in-residence is an Indigenous poet who grew up Stoney Creek and now resides on the Six Nations territory of the Grand River.
Western University’s new writer-in-residence is an Indigenous poet who grew up Stoney Creek and now resides on the Six Nations territory of the Grand River.
January Rogers produces print, performance, spoken-word and video poetry, and writes about “the Indigenous experience today,” she said.
“As poets we are creating these markers in time,” she said. “If someone in the future looks back, they’ll have a chance of learning about the societal realities that I was experiencing and my people were experiencing.
“It’s like being a journalist but using creative verse.”
Rogers, who also works in radio, theater and video, attributes the 25 years she spent in Victoria, BC, for her decision to move from visual artist to writer and poet.
“I blame the West Coast for making me a writer,” she said. “Sometimes the environment influences you.”
The West Coast “nurtured and honed my skills as a writer,” she said, adding she was poet laureate of Victoria for three years.
“I really enjoyed that gig, I love being commissioned to write,” she said, “And be able to introduce the larger Victoria community to new poetry voices. It was fun.”
Most recently she started her own publishing company, producing her latest work, Ego of a Nation, and a work by Dawn Cheryl Hill, the daughter of a residential school survivor, called Memory Keeper.
Rogers’ other books of poetry include Splitting the Heart, Unearthed, Peace in Duress, and Totem Poles and Railroads.
In May she released a 10-episode web series titled NDNS on the Airwaves.
At Western, she will have office hours at the university and at London’s public library, where she will give counsel on career advice and provide feedback on literary endeavors.
“I love discovering literary voices that are out there, whether they be new voices or voices that need a little bit of boost, help and guidance,” she said.
“I get really excited about story. It’s just something that takes over inside of me. It’s like chasing a high. I really enjoy the inspiration from those discussions.”
Western’s writer-in-residence program, which has hosted Nobel prize winner Alice Munro, Margaret Laurence, Emma Donoghue, George Bowering and Andre Alexis, is celebrating 50 years in 2022-23.
Pauline Wakeham, professor and vice-chair of the department of English and writing studies, calls Rogers “a wonderful choice.
“She is a dynamic artist who works across so many media — from print poetry to performance poetry, to radio, theater and new media,” she said.
“January’s connection to her home community of Six Nations of the Grand River is key to our vision of nurturing our relationships with local Indigenous nations and learning from brilliant Indigenous artists across this region.”