Featured

Sana Janjua – Surrey Muse

sm-sana-janua

Sana Janjua is a poet, performer and playwright. Her writings have been published at The Laaltain and Uddari Weblog, and she has presented monologues at various cultural and literary venues. Her play Migration, written and directed for a group of Pakistani-Canadian youth, expresses the experience of loneliness and pathos of (forced) migration and exile. Her monologue Smaller Names explores the dynamics of silencing of women’s voices/stories, and the trauma and shame they endure as they speak. As well, her poems and monologues focus on the invalidating environments produced by neoliberalism. She has hosted events to commemorate Poet Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Women’s International Day, Surrey Muse, and numerous book launching ceremonies for authors. Sana is now working on a full-length play and a chapbook of her poetry and essays. She is a Founding Member and the President of Surrey Muse.

Sana is a Registered Psychiatric Nurse, and enjoys working in the field of mental health.

View Sana’s poems
uddari.wordpress.com
Contact Sana
sanajanjua@gmail.com

At the July 28 gathering of Surrey Muse, Sana will be our Host. More on the event is here:
july-28-gathering

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Surrey Muse gatherings take place on
the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and
Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

July 21, 2017 by Surrey Muse

Malcolm van Delst – Surrey Muse

‘Malcolm van Delst stands out as a lazy writer in a profession
notorious for idlers and bums. She crowd-sourced this bio. She is
a lady who codes, a sometime bitcoin miner fond of get-rich-quick
schemes, and has a knack for dramatifying.’

Malcolm van Delst is a poet, novelist and web designer/developer who is passionate about writing, acting and filmmaking. She began her novel Do the Wrong Thing three years ago during Nanowrimo, and it is expected to come out later this year with another book titled The Low Self-Esteem Reading Room. Her stories and poems have been published at various zines including Tenement; she has appeared in Fringe plays; and, she had the 12th most viewed video at CBC’s now defunct site, Zed. Malcolm works with Vancouver Writers Group where she has created and continue to run a bi-weekly reading, writing and podcasting group and a bi-weekly Let’s Get Visible, self-Publishing and marketing Group. She has an English Literature degree from McMaster University, and diplomas in computer graphics, multimedia, and integrated media from various institutions including Emily Carr Institute where she later taught. Her favorite writers are Doris Lessing, Karl Ove Knausgaard and Sherman Alexie. For the next couple of years, Malcolm intends to increase her publishing pace, write more, read at more events, work on her idea of a one-woman play, and, begin a second novel that will ‘experiment more with form’. Malcolm wrote her first story at eight- and it was about a rabbit meeting a butterfly.

Contact Malcolm
malcolm.8@gmail.com

At the July 28 gathering of Surrey Muse, Malcolm will be begin the Open Mic Session with a reading from her novel Do the Wrong Thing. More about the event is here: july-28-gathering-of-surrey-muse

Surrey Muse
Program
Gatherings
People

‘LIKE’ us on FB
facebook.com/pages/Surrey-Muse
Follow on Twitter
@SurreyMuse

Support our Projects
Surrey Muse Writers
Surrey Muse At Large (SMAL)

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Surrey Muse gatherings take place on
the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and
Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

July 20, 2017 by Surrey Muse

Ajay Bhardwaj – Surrey Muse

‘Watching Anand Patwardhan’s documentaries
in the 1980’s and 90’s, I nurtured a desire to be
a documentary filmmaker. However, it was only after
working with the mainstream television in Delhi
for almost a decade that I could finally step into
the world of documentary filmmaking in 1997.‘

Ajay Bhardwaj is a South Asian filmmaker, a UBC Public Scholar, and an arts activist who has made films in Punjabi, Hindi and English. He has produced a dozen documentaries exploring different aspects of equality in South Asia. His Hindi film, A Minute of Silence, is a ‘guerilla’ documentary on the martyrdom of Chandrashekhar Prasad (a former President of the Jawaharlal Nehru University’s student union) that highlighted some of the basic fault-lines of Indian politics and society. Ajay’s next project was a decade long engagement with the state of the Punjab interrogating all its mainstream narratives of culture, politics, history and identity; the result was a set of three documentaries, now called the Punjab Triology. His interest in politics and the arts found expression in an early engagement with the agit-prop theatre— a street theatre, in Delhi. At this time, Ajay is a PhD candidate at the UBC’s department of Asian Studies.

Visit Ajay’s web page
ajaybhardwaj.in
Contact Ajay
ajayunmukt@gmail.com

At the July 28 gathering of Surrey Muse, Ajay will be our Featured Performer and he will present clips from his Punjab Trilogy of documentaries ‘to mark the 70th anniversary of Partition’ (of India in 1947). More about the event is here: july-28-gathering-of-surrey-muse

Surrey Muse gatherings take place
on the unceded territories of the
Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

Surrey Muse
Program
Gatherings
People

‘LIKE’ us on FB
facebook.com/pages/Surrey-Muse
Follow on Twitter
@SurreyMuse

Support our Projects
Surrey Muse Writers
Surrey Muse At Large (SMAL)

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surrey.muse@gmail.com

July 14, 2017 by Surrey Muse

Rob Zeer – Painter

‘I strive to reflect the true essence
of whatever I paint as authentically and honestly as possible.
The process of finding the personal technical skills
and inner-place to achieve this is my highest artistic endeavor.’

Born in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, Rob Zeer has painted and exhibited throughout Canada and Europe. He is a self taught artist with ‘minor study’ at the University of Calgary and Alberta College of Art. After years of painting & exhibiting large canvases he has recently returned to drawing on paper with mixed-media colouring using crayons, fluorescent-felts, acrylics etc. These works are smaller and more spontaneous, experimental & fun. He is inspired by a wide range of painters and styles ‘starting at the impressionists, Canadian Group of Seven, early 1900 expressionistic figurative, certain abstract, more recently the German Blaue Reiter expressionism… the list is long!’ Rob now lives and works in Germany.

Rob drew often as a kid with his first painting done in high-school art class, and from there it became a major passion. ‘One of the first few talents I had was art.’ Rob says, ‘We tend to express ourselves in the areas that we’re good at. Since embarking seriously as an artist it has been a long tough journey of trying to perfect my expression. When others appreciate the product of my efforts it is very fulfilling.’

There is another art form that Rob also practices: ‘I am an avid meditator. The goal of meditation is similar to art… one’s inner true-self experience & expression beyond the mind.’

For more information
Facebook.com/PG/zeer.art

Art by Rob Zeer
Features on the
July 2017 poster
of Surrey Muse

This painting is titled
‘Redland‘
(large 100x150cm)
It was created in 2012 for the True Realm Art series
done in Munich with artist John Gamble-Pogue.

‘Redland’ is part of five paintings
that will be featured on our posters
for the July-November 2017 session.
Thank you, Rob Zeer, for letting us
feature your art on Surrey Muse posters.

Surrey Muse gatherings take place
on the unceded territories of the
Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

‘LIKE’ us on FB
facebook.com/pages/Surrey-Muse/
Follow on Twitter
@SurreyMuse

Support our Projects
Surrey Muse Writers
Surrey Muse At Large (SMAL)

Contact
surrey.muse@gmail.com

July 12, 2017 by Surrey Muse

July 28 Gathering of Surrey Muse

62nd Gathering

July 28
Author Nefertiti SheLa Morrison
Poet Mohamad Kebbewar
Performer Ajay Bhardwaj
Open Mic Opener Malcolm van Delst
Featured Art by Rob Zeer
Host Sana Janjua

5:30 – 8:30 PM
Room 405 – City Centre branch
Surrey Public Library
Phone: (604) 598-7420
(Surrey Central skytrain)

Open Mic
Refreshments
Book Table
Free event
Donations welcome

Updates will be posted here
Program
More about the gatherings
Gatherings

NEW! Featured Art on Surrey Muse posters
Surrey Muse Art Director Mariam Zohra had begun
a new poster series in January 2017
to showcase work of guest artists.
This month our poster features art by
Rob Zeer

Surrey Muse gatherings take place
on the unceded territories of the
Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations.

‘LIKE’ us on FB
facebook.com/pages/Surrey-Muse/
Follow on Twitter
@SurreyMuse

Support our Projects
Surrey Muse Writers
Surrey Muse At Large (SMAL)

Contact
surrey.muse@gmail.com

July 6, 2017 by Surrey Muse

‘Surrey Muse’ a poem by Val Parks

Erato
the muse of poetry
is here with us tonight,
as she has been since
the beginning of spoken word.
Poetry is in the soul of mankind;
it is Erato who draws it out,
who encourages us to speak truth,
forces us to stand exposed
and naked before the world.
She has inspired such greats as
Longfellow, Edna St Vincent Millay,
Shelley, Wordsworth and many others.
She watches over the child
composing rhymes for his amusement,
because she sees a future poet.
Erato is here with us tonight
in this community of like-minded people,
in this society of artistic expression.
She is here with us tonight
in Surrey.

Dedicated to Surrey Muse, this poem was presented by Val Parks in the open mic session of April 28/2017 gathering.

Image from Pinterest.

Surrey Muse gatherings
Gatherings
‘LIKE’ us on FB
facebook.com/pages/Surrey-Muse/
Follow on Twitter
@SurreyMuse
Support Surrey Muse projects
Surrey Muse At Llarge (SMAL)
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Contact
surrey.muse@gmail.com
..

June 25, 2017 by Surrey Muse

Surrey Muse Program July-Nov 2017

July-Nov 2017 Program

July 28
Author Nefertiti SheLa Morrison
Poet Mohamad Kebbewar
Performer Ajay Bhardwaj
Open Mic Opener Malcolm van Delst
Host Mariam Zohra

August 25
Author Patricia A. Donahue
Poet Ghia Aweida
Performer Lilija Valis & Enrico Renz
Open Mic Opener Helga Parekh
Host Alex Macilwain

September 22
Author Stephen Brennan
Poet Wanda John-Kehewin
Performer Kat Wahama
Open Mic Opener Parabjot Kaur
Host Sonja Grgar

October 27
Author N.K. Johel
Poet Lozan Yamolky
Performer Sonja Grgar
Open Mic Opener Valerie Parks
Host Helga Parekh

November 24, 6th anniversary of Surrey Muse
Author Anthony Dalton
Poet Idrian Burgos
Performer Mariam Zohra
Open Mic Opener Joy Haskell
Host Fauzia Rafique

Updates to this program will be posted here
Program

Surrey Muse program is put together twice a year, in Nov/Dec for January-June session and in May/June for July-November session. Dates are blind-picked by participants themselves through an invitation. Participants are invited from a recommendations list that stays open throughout the year. Recommend authors, poets and performers to be featured at Surrey Muse. Use the email address below or try our (new) recommendations form:
surreymuse.wordpress.com/recommendations

June 22, 2017 by Surrey Muse

Malik Mohamed – Surrey Muse

“I declare war on disease“

Malik Mohamed is a firebrand poet and performer who has (hand) written over 100 poems, and he remembers most by heart. He wrote his first poem at 16, about a street kid who commits a homicide in self defence, runs from authorities, and is eventually killed by SWAT officers. He has presented his poems and participated in peer critique at Surrey Muse Writers, and he has performed at Surrey Arts Centre, Surrey Night Market, Cafe Deux Soleils, to people outside, and to mother at home. At this time, he is working on his health and mind, and on music production; and in the winter, he plans to travel. Malik says:
“I declare war on disease“. Disease is more then Cancer, syphilis, diabetes etc… but is established from childhood as a “latent” sickness that goes undetected for through out much of a person’s life. My endeavor is to use my music to gain influence. I hope you see in my face and my actions the authenticity and truth of my beliefs.

At the June 23 gathering of Surrey Muse, Malik will begin the open mic session with his performance poetry. More information about the event is at the link below:
june-23-gathering-of-surrey-muse

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