Who We Are

Harbour Centre 5 is a collective of emerging poets who met through Simon Fraser University’s Weekend Poetry Course. Their collaborative chapbook, Brine, was published in May 2022. They live and write on the traditional and unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.

POETS

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Robbie Chesick

Robbie Chesick is a clinical counsellor and writer who swoons at clever wordplay. Her poetry has been published in EVENT, Prairie Fire, Vallum Magazine, and Poetry Pause.

Rebecca Holand

Rebecca Holand expresses her quiet observations through daily painting and writing. The only activity in higher esteem is swimming. She considers herself a re-emerging writer, and has been published in Rags, Prairie Journal, Freefall Magazine, Ascent Magazine, and most recently, Poetry Pause. She has recently published her own chapbook The Tumbleweed Years.

Christina Shah

Christina Shah lives in Vancouver and works in heavy industry, where she drinks from the firehose of knowledge. Her poetry has appeared in The Fiddlehead, Vallum, Arc, Grain, PRISM international, EVENT, The Malahat Review, The Antigonish Review and elsewhere. Her poem, ‘they canned a good man today’, was shortlisted for The Fiddlehead’s 2021 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize. Her poem, ‘interior bar, 1986’, was selected for Best Canadian Poetry 2023. Her first videopoem, ‘rig veda’ (in collaboration with Mark Mushet), was released earlier this year. rig veda, her first solo chapbook (Anstruther Press), was released in August 2023. She has some strong opinions on soft pretzels.

@christinashah.bsky.social

James X. Wang

James X. Wang is a writer and physician who began writing in earnest in 2019. His work has appeared in Arc, The Fiddlehead and is forthcoming in Augur. He was a contributor to Adventitious Sounds, a League of Canadian Poets chapbook by health care professionals. He has also been featured alongside other emerging poets on CBC radio.

Jaeyun Yoo

Jaeyun Yoo is a Korean-Canadian poet and psychiatrist who is a graduate of The Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University. Her poems have appeared in Room, Contemporary Verse 2, Canthius, and elsewhere. She won The Fiddlehead’s 2023 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize. Her work was selected for Best Canadian Poetry 2025 and she was nominated for Best of the Net 2022. Her first solo chapbook is forthcoming with Baseline Press in 2026.

@jaeyunwrites.bsky.social