Bio
Evan J (he/they) mostly writes. Evan has recently lived in Toronto, Ottawa, Sioux Lookout, and now Winnipeg. For the past few years, Evan helped operate the Sioux-Hudson Literacy Council’s (SHLC) Adult Learning Centre, a drop-in centre for Indigenous adults experiencing homelessness and/or addictions. Evan also managed DOI2T, an Ontario-wide adult literacy program that used contemporary technologies like 3D printing to improve digital literacy. Now Evan splits his time between (1) writing short fiction, (2) organizing the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, (3) facilitating writing workshops, (4) selecting/editing fiction for Cloud Lake Literary journal, (5) teaching tech literacy in remote NW Ontario First Nations, (6) writing a novel about land rights and taxes, (7) advocating for transgender rights, (8) operating an equitable hunting business, (9) writing poetry, and (10) endurance running.
Awards, Nominations, Recognition
Albertina Tholakele Dube Scholarship for 2023 – Winner
Askew’s Word on the Lake Writing Contest in Poetry for 2023 – Winner
The Malahat Review’s Open Season Awards in Poetry for 2023 – Shortlisted
The Malahat Review’s Open Season Awards in Fiction for 2023 – Shortlisted
Canada Council for the Arts Research and Creation Grant in 2022 – Recipient
Canada Council for the Arts Research and Creation Grant in 2021 – Recipient
Ontario Arts Council Northern Arts Projects Grant for 2021 – Recipient
CV2 Young Buck Poetry Prize for 2021 – Short Listed & Honourable Mention
Eden Mills Writers’ Festival’s Read at The Fringe Contest for 2020 – Third Place
subTerrain Magazine Lush Triumphant Literary Award for Poetry 2019 – Runner-Up
Ontario Arts Council Recommender Grant for Writers 2019 – 3x Recipient
Jury Committee Member for Ontario Arts Council Literary Project Grants in 2019
Vallum Award for Poetry 2018 – Winner
Ontario Arts Council Recommender Grant for Writers 2018
Literary Employment
Winnipeg International Writers’ Festival (Winnipeg), Programming Coordinator, 2021-present
Cloud Lake Literary (Thunder Bay), Contributing Writer and Fiction Editor, 2020-present
Brick, A Literary Journal (Toronto), Editorial Assistant, 2016-2018
Slackline Creative Arts Series – Literature and Arts Presentation Series (Toronto), Director, 2016-2018
Existere, A Literary Journal of Arts & Literature (Toronto), Poetry Editor, 2016-2017
Publishing History
Poetry Books
- Ripping down half the trees, McGill-Queen’s University Press, Summer 2021
Stories and Poems
- “Jesus fish,” Prairie Fire magazine, Spring 2023
- “On a hill near Staig,” Vallum magazine, Autumn 2022
- “Updraft,” filling Station magazine, Summer 2022
- “Re ember,” EVENT magazine, June 2021
- “How to grow fennel,” CV2 magazine, May 2021
- A stab motion, a quiet town (Five poem suite), subTerrain magazine, issue 86, January 2021
- “The boreal,” The Antigonish Review, issue 201-02, Fall 2020
- “The Huldufolk meet Coyote,” CV2 magazine, August 2020
- “Bear paw and beast,” Blank Spaces magazine, June 2020
- “It’s no real pleasure in life,” Blank Spaces magazine, June 2020
- “Of course you do find spicy bits,” Literary Review of Canada, May 2020
- “Valhalla,” Bywords magazine, April 2020
- “This poem is both thank-you and erotic,” subTerrain magazine, issue 83, November 2019
- “Invaders: Mystery Space Riders,” subTerrain magazine, issue 82, May 2019
- “Bloor-Yonge,” Vallum magazine, issue 16.1, May 2019
- “Prison’s Great Threat is Creative Constriction,” Grain magazine, issue 46.2, January 2019
- “Wil, a Front Runner,” Echolocation magazine, October 2018
- “The cyclist managed Patagonia,” Echolocation magazine, October 2018
- “The sun sets, etc.” Vallum magazine, issue 15.1, May 2018
- “Ignite! We are Fire, then Blackness,” untethered magazine, issue 4.1, April 2018
- “A poem for the bagel-master,” The Veg magazine, Fall 2017 issue, November 2017
- “I sleep with mountains and politics and think of you once,” Soliloquies Anthology, issue 22.1, November 2017
- “David Harvey wears a t-shirt,” Soliloquies Anthology, issue 22.1, November 2017
- “Mérida,” In/Words magazine, issue 17.1, November 2017
- “Maché,” Scrivener Creative Review, volume 42, April 2017
- “SUNFLOWERS,” Bywords magazine, April 2017
- “March,” Artichoke magazine, issue 6.6, March 2017
- “WHIP,” Ottawa Arts Review, issue 9.2, February 2017
- “Our books line the shore,” Apparatus (anthology of creative literature from Inspiritus Press), January 2017
- “Fins for the Sickle,” Soliloquies Anthology, issue 21.1, December 2016
- “Marks on the ice,” Vallum magazine, issue 13.2, November 2016
- “I want you to see the sky,” Bywords magazine, September 2016
- “Sittin’ on a boat,” Bywords magazine, February 2016
- “so, anxiety,” In/Words magazine, issue 15.1, October 2015
- “County Sligo,” Spring’s Gentle Rain (anthology of writing from the Canadian Poetry Institute), 2015
- “The Turbid Moment,” The Tracery of Trees (anthology of writing from the Canadian Poetry Institute), 2015
Poetry Chapbooks
- The Old Canon, digitally self-published, January 2021
- Urchin, In/Words Press, March 2018
- Eugenie, The River Publishing, November 2017
Articles
- On Writing (regular column), Cloud Lake Literary, 2020-present
- “Evan J. Hoskins Reviews Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha’s Tonguebreaker,” Hamilton Review of Books, May 2019
- “The Curriculum Won’t Change For Us: A Review of Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves,” Existere, A Journal of Arts and Literature, issue 38.1, December 2018
- “Review of Wendy McGrath’s A Revision of Forward,” Existere, A Journal of Arts and Literature, issue 37.2, March 2018
- “Review of Laurie D. Graham’s Settler Education,” Bywords magazine, February 2018
- “Review of Jordan Scott’s Night & Ox,” Existere, A Journal of Arts and Literature, issue 36.1, October 2016
- “Fishing for an Asian carp solution,” Illinois Country Living magazine, June 2014
- “Traveling On A Budget,” The Manitoban newspaper, April 2014
- “O(H) NO! It’s Music Festival Time!,” The Manitoban newspaper, March 2014
Interviews and Media
“Local poet hosts poetry workshop” (Interview), The Sioux Lookout Bulletin, Mar 2022.
“Ripping down half the trees with Evan J” (Podcast interview), by chris johnson, The Ottawa Writers Festival, Oct 2021.
“U of M alum publishes poignant poetry collection” (Interview), by Shaylyn Maharaj-Poliah, The Manitoban, Aug 2021.
“Review: Evan J — Ripping down half the trees” (Review), by Shaylyn Maharaj-Poliah, The Manitoban, Aug 2021.
“Review: Urchin by Evan Hoskins” (Review) by Jordan Prato, The Puritan, Jul 2019.
“Want to be part of Toronto’s art scene? New monthly event encourages emerging artists to join in” (Interview), by Allyson Aritcheta, This Magazine, Apr 2017.
“Interview with Evan Hoskins,” by Jason Freure, The Town Crier / The Puritan, Feb 2017.
Recent Committee and Board Memberships
ABC Life Literacy’s national adult literacy Programs and Research Committee (PARC) (2020-2022)
Sioux Lookout Healthy Community Task Force (HCTF) (2019-2022)
THIN AIR Winnipeg International Writers Festival Selection Committee (2021)
AlphaPlus’s Ontario-based adult literacy and basic skills Blended-Learning Advisory Committee (2020-2021)
Sioux Lookout Situation Table (SLST) for emergency prevention (2019-2020)
Sioux Lookout Vulnerable Population Committee (SLVPC) (2019-2020)
Evan J 