Ziysah von Bieberstein was officially inaugurated as Peterborough’s second Poet Laureate during a City Council meeting on April 24th.

Author of three poetry collections, Ziysah is also a former director of the New Canadian Centre and has previously worked for the Kawartha World Issues Centre, Reframe Film Festival, and the Trent Queer Collective. They’re also a co-founder of the Peterborough Poetry Slam.  

The news that Ziysah would hold the position was originally announced on April 12th by the City, alongside the Electric City Culture Council (EC3). 

In a message posted to Facebook and distributed to media and community members, Ziysah thanked a litany of individuals and organizations who played a part in their receiving this honour, including the other two finalists for the position - Niambi Tree and Wes Ryan.

“I can't wait til it's Niambi Tree and Wes Ryan's turns. They are finalists and also future poet laureates,” they wrote. 

Ziysah was nominated for the position by Trent University Professor, Dr. Jenn Cole, who they wrote had asked if they wanted to be Poet Laureate prior to nominating them.

“I am very humbled by Jenn's faith in me in terms of honouring this Michi Saagiig territory and inviting in all generations and all life. I hope to live up to that and I invite you all to keep me accountable.”

In their remarks following the official announcement by Mayor Jeff Leal, Ziysah thanked inaugural Peterborough Poet Laureate, Sarah Lewis, who they said “de-paved the way for poetry in council chambers.” 

Ziysah was emphatic in their thanks for the role of the City and its institutions for creating spaces to celebrate creativity and the arts.

“We need to do a better job of celebrating the things that the city does do,” they said, noting that often people only engage with their City Hall or municipal politics when they are upset or angry about something. 

They pointed to the incredible success of events such as the Drag Story Times held at the Public Library as a prime example of the kind of programming available to people in the community. 

The City staff involved in planning these events, Ziysah noted, “do an amazing job of standing by the fact that drag is not dangerous to children, queerness is not dangerous to children.”

These statements were met with loud cheers from the crowd which had assembled within the Council Chambers.

Ziysah concluded the inauguration by presenting a poem they had written for International Transgender Day of Visibility which fell on March 31st of this year. 

Following the presentation, Jeff Leal presented Ziysah with flowers and thanked them for the poem’s “great message.”

Ziysah will be performing as part of a poetry slam at Sadleir House on April 27th, and will be part of Artsweek from May 5-14th which will see the return of the Take-Out Poetry Cart featuring “instant, made-to-order poems from our bicycle-pulled cart.