This week, May 18th, we welcome Bänoo Zan winner of this year’s Freedom to Read Award given by The Writers’ Union of Canada. Bänoo Zan is a poet, translator, essayist, and poetry curator, who has published over 300 poems and three books. Songs of Exile, shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. Letters to My Father was published in 2017. She is the founder of Shab-e She’r (Poetry Night), often described as ‘Canada’s most diverse and brave poetry reading and open mic series. Shab-e She’r bridges the gap between communities of poets from different ethnicities, nationalities, religions (or lack thereof), ages, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, poetic styles, voices, and visions. Bänoo calls herself a war correspondent in verse. The anthology Woman Life Freedom which she edited and curated with Cy Strom was published a few weeks ago.