Meet the Writer
Emily (she/her/hers) is a Canadian poet and writer living on the unceded and unsurrendered traditional territories of the Coast Salish Peoples of the Qayqayt First Nations. She holds a BA (Hons.) and BEd from Simon Fraser University (SFU), is a graduate of The Writer’s Studio Creative Writing Program (studying poetry under Kayla Czaga), and is currently pursuing an MA (SFU Department of English). She is the founder and editor of SAPP, (a community arts movement and small-batch publication), a Director for the Royal City Literary Arts Society, and a member of the Federation of BC Writers.
Emily identifies as a queer person living with mental illness. Her creative work draws heavily from her lived experiences and is often centred in the local landscapes of her home, so-called British Columbia. Her work has appeared in numerous print and online publications (full list here), been short-listed or mentioned in multiple award competitions (full list here), and performed live at various poetry events.
Emily currently works in post-secondary, and previously worked as a Research Assistant on The Women’s Print History Project. Active in the book-loving community, Emily organizes monthly “bookstagram” meetups in the lower mainland through her Instagram platform, @molinariwrites, which focus on fostering an in-person community of book lovers while also supporting indie bookstores.
During her undergrad at SFU, Emily was awarded The Philippa Polson Memorial Prize in English (for Best Honours Project) in 2018, and the Tom Grieve Honours English Program Award in 2017 for her Thesis “”Til Duty Makes the Passion a Virtue”” Feminine Self-Denial and the Eighteenth-Century Epistolary Novel.” She has academic work published under her maiden name (Elsasser) on “Sarah Wilmot, Forgotten Bluestocking”.
When she’s not writing, Emily spends her time doing yoga, playing the violin (and, recently, learning piano), and adventuring with her dalmatian, Gatsby. She is grateful for the support of her mentors and readers.
