Episode 21: Molly Cross-Blanchard

In this episode of the pod, writer Jessica Johns interviews poet Molly Cross-Blanchard about EXHIBITIONIST, her debut full-length collection of poetry. They talk about their relationships to place, to the body, to love, and so much more.

Jessica Johns is a nehiyaw aunty with English-Irish ancestry and a member of Sucker Creek First Nation in Treaty 8 territory in Northern Alberta. Her short story “Bad Cree” won the 2020 Writers’ Trust Journey Prize and her novel of the same name will be released in January 2023 with HarperCollins.

Molly Cross-Blanchard is a white and Métis writer and editor born on Treaty 3 territory (Fort Frances, ON), raised on Treaty 6 territory (Prince Albert, SK), and living on the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples (Vancouver, BC). She did an English BA at the University of Winnipeg and a Creative Writing MFA at UBC, and is the publisher at Room magazine. Her debut poetry chapbook is I DON’T WANT TO TELL YOU, published with Rahila's Ghost Press in 2018, and her debut full-length book of poetry is EXHIBITIONIST, published with Coach House Books in 2021.

You can order EXHIBITIONIST here.