Poem in Your Pocket Day 2024
Celebrate Poem in Your Pocket Day on April 18, 2024
Held in the last two weeks of National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day is an international movement that encourages people to centre poetry within their daily interactions.
On PIYP Day, select a poem, carry it with you, and share it with others at schools, bookstores, libraries, parks, workplaces, coffee shops, street corners, and on social media using the hashtag #PocketPoem.
This annual initiative is organized by the Academy of American Poets, celebrated with a free downloadable PDF booklet containing contemporary American and – since the League joined forces in 2016 – Canadian poetry to share.
For your French pocket poem needs, check out the booklet created by La poésie partout for La Journée du poème à porter.
Celebrate the 2024 Poem in Your Pocket Day collection!
Poems will be available to read, share, and download in April 2024.
Send a poem this April!
Everyone needs a poem in their pocket - and this April, the League will send a postcard poem to you or a friend!
For the first time, you can select which poem you'd like to send: we will be mailing out Em Dial's "Against Beauty," and Cindy Patrick's "I Don't Need I Love Yous."
Postcards will be mailed the week of April 15, 2024; postcards must be requested by Wednesday, April 10, 2024. Postcards can be mailed to Canadian addresses only.
This is a pay-what-you-can program from the League, with a recommended donation of $5 per postcard. Consider setting up a monthly donation to support the League year-round!
Print the 2024 Poem in Your Pocket Collection
Download, share, and print the 2024 Poem in Your Pocket poem postcards!
Designed by visual artist Caitlin Lapeña
To print postcards, you can use an online service like Vistaprint and upload our designs to a vertical 4x6 poster template. You'll need to download the image file for the poem you want to print, as well as an image for the back (you can use ours!).
These print services will usually provide options to help you design a postcard, but all you'll need to do is upload the image(s) you've downloaded. You may need to add a second page to include the back of the postcard.
The poets of PIYP 2024
Tara Borin is a poet and writer living in the traditional territory of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Dawson City, Yukon. Their debut full-length poetry collection, The Pit, was published by Nightwood Editions in March 2021. Their poetry has been anthologized in the League of Canadian Poets Feminist Caucus in Conversation chapbook (LCP Press, 2022), Resistance: Righteous Rage in the Age of #MeToo (University of Regina Press, 2021), and Best New Poets in Canada 2018 (Quattro Books), as well as published in literary journals both online and in print. Tara is the 2022 winner of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes Borealis Prize: Commissioner of Yukon Award for Literary Contribution.
Qurat Dar was the City of Mississauga’s third Youth Poet Laureate (2021-2023) and the 2020 Canadian Individual Poetry Slam National Champion. Her work has appeared in Canthius, Augur Magazine, the Art Gallery of Mississauga, and in virtual reality, among other places.
Em Dial is a queer, Black, Taiwanese, Japanese, and White, chronically ill poet, grower, and educator born and raised in the Bay Area of California, currently living in Toronto. They are a Kundiman Fellow and recipient of the 2020 PEN Canada New Voices Award and the 2019 Mary C. Mohr Poetry Award.
Sana Huang is the winner of the 2023 Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Prize in the junior category.
“I find that I write my best poems when I’m hit with random bursts of inspiration during unearthly hours of the night. Besides poetry, you can find me dancing or catching up on much needed sleep!”
Kris Kaila (she/her) is a Punjabi Canadian poet, writer, book reviewer & blogger. Her poetry has been published with Maza Arts Collective and in various anthologies, including being reprinted in the Indian Yearbook 2022. Kris is a member of the League of Canadian Poet and Federation of British Columbia Writers. She was chosen as the poetry mentee for the Writers’ Trust of Canada Mentorship and a Pushcart Prize nominee for 2023. On rainy days in beautiful Vancouver, BC, Kris is usually reading or watching true crime docs if not writing and can be found @krisesque_life (IG)
Kelly Madden writes poetry, fiction and children’s stories. Her work has appeared in publications supported by the League of Canadian Poets, Reckoning 2 & 4, Island Writer’s Magazine, Contemporary Verse 2, THE POET and various anthologies. Her first collection of poetry, If I’d Known, is available through redtuquebooks.com or contact kellybmadden.com
Jessica Lee McMillan (she/her) is a poet with an English MA and Creative Writing certificate from SFU’s The Writer’s Studio. Her work has appeared in over 30 publications across Turtle Island including Crab Creek Review, The Humber Literary Review, Funicular, Pinhole Poetry, and Rose Garden Press. Jessica was a finalist for The Fiddlehead’s 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Contest, won the 2022 Royal City Literary Arts Society Write On! Contest for Poetry and has received Pushcart and Best of the Net nominations. She lives on the land of the Halkomelem-speaking Peoples (New Westminster, BC) with her little family and large dog. jessicaleemcmillan.com
Fareh Malik is an author and artist from the Greater Toronto Area. Originally a spoken word poet, recently he was named the 2023 winner of the Austin Clarke Prize in Literary Excellence, the 2022 PEN Canada New Voices Award winner, and his book Streams that Lead Somewhere was the winner of the Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry, and longlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.
Richard Owen is a retired lawyer living in Fredericton , New Brunswick. He writes poetry and fiction. His story, “The Barn Owl”, was shortlisted for the Peter Hinchcliffe Short Fiction Award, and published in The New Quarterly. Our relationship with nature is a recurring theme in his work.
Cindy Patrick lives on Vancouver Island, observing Mother and human nature. Seeking no formal education, she is ever in her formative years. Her poems appear in publications: Blank Spaces, Subjectiv., High Shelf Press, Griffel and The Closed Eye Open.
Ashley Qilavaq-Savard is an Inuk poet, writer, artist, and filmmaker born and raised in Iqaluit, Nunavut. Her first book of poetry, Where The Sea Kuniks the Land (Inhabit Media) explores themes of decolonization, intergenerational trauma, language, and love for Inuit Nunangat. Ashley has published multiple stories, poems and essays relating to her Inuit culture, her work can be seen in the Nipiit Magazine, Chirp Magazine, Inuit Art Quarterly, Canadian Art Magazine, and Studio Magazine.
Robyn Kaur Sidhu (she/he/they) is a queer, mad, disabled, Punjabi poet. They have had feelings publicly, and have performed them on stages across Turtle Island and the United Kingdom. They are the creative director of Hot Damn it’s a Queer Slam, and a youth educator of consent, 2SLGBTQ+ identity, poetry and visual arts. They will occasionally break out into poetry on the street, and they are trying to be the adult they needed as a kid. You can find Robyn on the internet if that’s your thing @Robyn_Sidhu
Vivan Sun is a poet from Toronto, and the winner of the 2023 Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Prize in the senior category. She was a participant in the 2023 FutureVerse program hosted by Poetry in Voice, and is featured in the Voices/Voix Journal. In her free time, Vivian enjoys playing the violin, petting her cats, and losing at chess.
Gillian Sze is the author of multiple poetry books and picture books. Her latest poetry collection, Quiet Night Think, received the 2023 Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She lives in Montreal where she teaches at Concordia University.
Salimah Valiani is a poet, activist and researcher. 29 leads to love, her fifth poetry collection, won the 2022 International Book Award for Contemporary Poetry. She previous poetry collections are breathing for breadth (TSAR 2005); Letter Out: Letter In (Inanna 2009); land of the sky (Inanna 2016); Cradles (Daraja 2017). Love Pandemic, Valiani’s first audiobook (also in print) was released by Daraja Press in 2022. Valiani’s new collection, IGoli EGoli, about the city of Johannesburg, will be released by Botstoto Press later this year.