Melissa Schnarr and Karl Dockstader will read their poetry before an open mic segment for anyone that would like to share their work.

Melissa Schnarr is Anishinaabe and Kanien’kehá:ka from Bkejwanong Territory (Walpole Island First Nation), with family ties in Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She is a writer, scholar and educator who is currently pursuing a PhD in Indigenous Education at Western University. She also serves as the chair for Western’s Indigenous Writers’ Circle and as a Visiting Cultural Teacher for the London District Catholic School Board. Her work has appeared in the Temz Review, TNQ, the Windsor Review, Luna Station Quarterly and Yellow Medicine Review. Her first poetry chapbook, Secondhand Moccasins, was published in 2023 by Anstruther Press and was shortlisted for the bpNichol Chapbook Award. Her first full-length collection, A Bow Forged from Ash, will be published by Palimpsest Press and is slated for release in late Fall 2025 (under the name, Melissa Powless Day). She lives in Deshkan Ziibi (London, Ontario) with her research assistants, Pixie the chihuahua and Shiloh, the orange tabby.

Karl Dockstader is Oneida, Bear Clan, and has been an advocate, activist and educator in One Dish, One Spoon territories for the past decade. He hosts a nationally syndicated radio show called One Dish One Mic. Karl’s background includes leadership roles at both the Niagara Regional Native Centre and the Fort Erie Native Friendship Centre, which will support him in advancing the Niagara College’s Indigenous education strategy being developed over the next academic year.