The District of Saanich’s Community Poets Program – through the roles of Community Poet and Youth Community Poet – celebrates the power of poetry, spoken word and the literary arts to connect, inspire and reflect the spirit of our region.
Serving a one- to two-year term, Community Poets bring the literary arts to life in Saanich through public readings, creative projects, and collaborations that connect, inspire, and celebrate our community.
Community Poet
The Community Poet creates new work and shares it at Saanich events, while also leading a community project that gives people opportunities to experience and engage with poetry. These projects help enrich Saanich’s cultural life and deepen connections to its people, places, and spaces.
Community Youth Poet
The Community Youth Poet engages young people with the power of literature, poetry, and spoken word. They organize projects that empower youth, amplify their voices, and encourage peer-inspired learning, and also share their poetry at various Saanich events.
In addition, the Youth Poet participates in a mentorship with an established local poet.
For more information about this program, or to contact the Community Poet or Youth Poet, email communitypoets@saanich.ca.
Community Poet – Jesse Holth (2025-27)
I am very honoured to serve as the inaugural Community Poet for the District of Saanich. I often write about nature and the more-than-human world—I believe it is a site of healing, a place of interconnection, and a catalyst to reflect and take action. I look forward to engaging with the community, tapping into our awe and curiosity, and using poetry to develop our imagination, empathy, and connectedness.
Jesse Holth is a writer, editor, and poet whose practice explores ecology, health and healing, misogyny, and social justice. Her poems have appeared in POETRY, Prairie Schooner, Arc, CV2, Grain, Room, PRISM, and other publications in Canada and the U.S. She created the series Ecopoetics in the Era of Climate Crisis as Editor-in-Residence at The Ex-Puritan, and served as Assistant Poetry Editor at The Tishman Review. Her poems have been featured in several anthologies including The Nature of Our Times (Poets for Science) and Resistance (ed. Sue Goyette). She is a member of Poetry in Voice and the League of Canadian Poets.
Community Youth Poet – Bennett Gilleland (2026)
As Youth Community Poet, Bennett strives to make space for young poets to promote their work, improve their craft, and get acquainted with Saanich’s poetry community. He hopes to plan a poetry market where poets can sell their work and perform, as well as writing workshops, poetry readings in the park, and collaborating with visual artists. He also hopes to create a new body of work to commemorate queer history and additionally be a consistent, and welcoming presence at Saanich’s upcoming poetry events.
Poet, spoken word performer, and journalist, Bennett Gilleland, has been obsessed with poetry ever since he heard of Rudyard Kipling in middle-school. It started a love of writing that followed him from his home in Toronto, to Alberta, and now to Saanich. He began to write poems seriously in 2021 as a student in the English and Writing department at UVic. His catalogue has evolved from comedic and performative poetry to themes of addiction, mental health, and queerness.
Since moving to the island, Bennett has been active in its literary community, getting published in The Martlet, Island Writer Magazine, Sundew, The Warren, Essence, and was winner of This Side of West’s 2024 Prose and Poetry Contest. His spoken word performances have stretched to most venues in Saanich and Victoria like Planet Earth Poetry, Brickyard Pizza, Reynold’s High School, Gigi’s Café, Vertigo Lounge, and culminating in a feature poet reading for the Victoria Poetry Project.