Chelene
Knight
Chelene Knight is the author of the poetry collection Braided Skin and the memoir Dear Current Occupant, winner of the 2018 Vancouver Book Award. Her writing is widely anthologized and has appeared in multiple Canadian and American literary journals. In addition to her work as a writer, Knight is managing editor at Room, programming director for the Growing Room Festival, and CEO of #LearnWritingEssentials. Knight is currently working on a novel set in Vancouver’s Hogan’s Alley, forthcoming in 2020. She was selected as a Writers' Trust Rising Star by David Chariandy.
Program History
Citation
"Chelene Knight writes with all of the high artistry that comes from caring. She cares about overlooked places and vanished communities. She cares about the souls and laughter of the vulnerable. She cares about the nuances of narrative voice, the tangled work of cultural memory, and the limning of everyday powerful intimacies. Knight is the inspiring example of the socially invested writer, working in community and on the page to offer language and story that is fresh, stylistically audacious, fiercely honest, and beautiful." —2019 Rising Stars selector David Chariandy