ABOUT CLARE

beautiful. iconic. stunning. young and vibrant. these are just a few of the words that Clare uses to describe herself.

Clare grew up in the North Okanagan in British Columbia, and lives there still(!) in Vernon, BC, where she haunts the pull tab machines in her local dive bar.

she is a proud community college alumna, graduating from the Writing and Publishing Diploma Program at Okanagan College in 2020. and she didn’t even get a Zoom grad ceremony!

during that time, she started broke press, a chapbook press she runs from her basement suite kitchen table to this day, much to the dismay of the string of roommates she’s had in her 20s. sorry for all the paper trimmings, guys! love you! she’s published the work of some iconic Canadian writers, like Sharon Thesen and Michael V Smith, as well as a plethora of emerging Canadian talent. do NOT ask why it’s called broke press. you already know the answer!

the best day of Clare’s life, and this is true! is when Gaspereau Press published her chapbook, tiger poems, in 2023. it’s all downhill from there, really! except, it’s not. because her short long poem No One Cares About Your Break-Up Poem!!! went on to win the 2023 John Lent Poetry Prose Award in 2023, and was published in a (sparkly pink!!!) chapbook in 2024. she’s been shortlisted for the Okanagan Short Story Contest, and even got third in 2026! who says women can’t do it all.

the next best day of her life will be when her book-length long poem, Roadkill, comes out with Gaspereau Press in fall of 2027.

outside of all that wordy business, her day job is working at the public library, and she fills the rest of her hours swimming in the lake, skiing on the hill, annoying her cat, Boone, reading lots of books, and making random shit!

Clare reminds herself on a weekly basis that life isn’t just about “Accepted” statuses on Submittable. in fact, in her experience, it’s much more about “Declined” statuses ❤