The Eastern Comma Writer-in-Residence program, co-presented by Musagetes and rare Charitable Research Reserve, hosted Janet Rogers as the 2017 writer-in-residence. Every autumn, Eastern Comma hosts accomplished Canadian literary writers within North House, a solar-powered, advanced-design living lab set in the natural environment of rare Charitable Research Reserve, situated at the confluence of the Grand and Speed Rivers in southern Ontario. Resident writers work on scholarly or literary writing while interacting with the community of people who are present at rare including gardeners, educators, students, artists, botanists, ecologists, geologists, archeologists and historians.
Janet Marie Rogers is a Mohawk/Tuscarora writer from Six Nations. She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, lived in Stoney Creek, Hamilton, and Toronto, and has been living as a guest on the traditional lands of the Coast Salish people (Victoria, British Columbia) since 1994. Janet works in the genres of poetry, spoken word performance poetry, video poetry and recorded poetry with music. Janet is also a radio broadcaster, documentary producer, media and sound artist. Her literary titles include Splitting the Heart (Ekstasis Editions 2007), Red Erotic (Ojistah Publishing 2010), Unearthed (Leaf Press 2011), Peace in Duress (Talonbooks 2014), and Totem Poles and Railroads (ARP Books 2016). Her radio documentaries “Bring Your Drum: 50 years of Indigenous Protest Music” and “Resonating Reconciliation” won Best Radio at the imagineNATIVE Film and Media festival 2011 and 2013.
As a culminating event of the two month residency, Janet shared the stage at the eBar in Guelph with two other female Indigenous poets at an event she called Triple Indigenous. Janet’s set of readings was preceded by Dene writer Tenille Campbell, who treated the audience to excerpts from her book of poetry titled #IndianLovePoems, and Mohawk Wolf clan writer Kahsenniyo Williams from Six Nations.
As part of her reading at Triple Indigenous Janet debuted two poems written while at the Eastern Comma Residency: “Indian Now” and “Eating the Moon.”
In 2018 Janet will be taking part in residencies at the University of Alberta, the Joy Kogawa House, and the SFAI Equal Justice Residency in Santa Fe New Mexico.
