allegra kaplan
Allegra Kaplan is a queer writer of Brazilian-Jewish and Ukrainian descent, living on the unceded territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm/Esquimalt) peoples.Her poetry has been published in Grain, Room, LBRNTH, yolk, Beaver Magazine, Ahoy Literary, The Fieldstone Review, Unstamatic Magazine, nationalpoetrymonth.ca, and elsewhere. She is currently an Assistant Poetry Editor at yolk and a Poetry Intern at Planet Earth Poetry.Allegra holds an MA in English Literature from the University of British Columbia, where her SSHRC-funded research engaged critically with contemporary Canadian poetry and poetics. She is now developing her first full collection of poetry.
selected poems
“Ode to k.d. lang on the Cover of Absolute Torch and Twang” & “I Was Dancing in the Lesbian Bar” — forthcoming in Eavesdrop Magazine's Our Queer Histories anthology.“Eating Ezekiel 4:9 Golden Flax Sprouted Grain Crunchy Cereal” &
“26 Times Glass Was Not Strong Enough” — yolk.“Poem in Which I Crawl On My Hands and Knees” — LBRNTH magazine.“I Am Making a Loaf of Gluten-Free Banana Bread and Replacing the Psyllium Husk Powder with Orange-Flavoured Metamucil” — Room Magazine.“on queering grief (haibun #2)” — Ahoy Literary.Tonella tenella, or The One Where I Profess My Love for You” — Grain. Republished in Poetry Pause: 2025 Member Spotlight. League of Canadian Poets &
the GVPL Poetry Dispenser“Will This Mega Jawbreaker be a Match for the Hand of God?”— Beaver Magazine.“The Little Jesus Under My Arm”— The Fieldstone Review.“Misery Index” & artist’s statement — nationalpoetrymonth.ca (AngelHousePress).“Protection from Coronavirus with Immunity Oil” & “How Your Family Lived” — The Warren.
selected prose
“September 15th” — This Year: 2025, Big Table Press.
academic publications
Co-author. “Making Things Together: Collaborating and Mentoring on an OER Project,” by Denae Dyck, Andrea Korda, Mary Elizabeth Leighton, and Vanessa Warne, with Katherine DeCoste, Madison George-Berlet, Maryssa Grayer, Anne Hung, Jessie Krahn, Natalie LoVetri, Anne Mirejovsky, Ruth Ormiston, Allegra Stevenson-Kaplan, and Jamie Zabel. IDEAH: Interdisciplinary Digital Engagement in Arts & Humanities, 3.2, (2023).Contributor. “Teaching with the Getty Museum Challenge in Humanities Classrooms,” by Andrea Korda, Mary Elizabeth Leighton, and Vanessa Warne. Currents in Teaching and Learning, vol. 14, no. 1, September 2022, pp. 19-38.Contributor. “Getting Scrappy in the Classroom During COVID-19: Collaboration, Open Educational Resources, and Hands-on Learning for Humanities Students,” by Elizabeth Bassett, Heather Dean, Andrea Korda, Mary Elizabeth Leighton, and Vanessa Warne. KULA: Knowledge Creation, Dissemination, and Preservation Studies, 6. 1 (2022): 1-18.Author. “‘A Creature of My Own Imagination’: Artistic, Maternal, and Sexual Desire in Anne Brontë’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall,” The Albatross English Undergraduate Journal, vol. 11, 2021.
honours and awards
University of British Columbia
2025 Faculty of Arts Graduate Award
2024 Special UBC Graduate Scholarship
2023-24 SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship Master's Award
2023 Faculty of Arts Graduate AwardUniversity of Victoria
2021 Doug Beardsley Scholarship for Best Paper on Modern Poetry
2021 Dr. Burton O. Kurth Scholarship for Excellence in English Honours
2021 Robert and Norah Wallace Commemorative Scholarship
2021 Jamie Cassels Undergraduate Research Award
2020 Grant McOrmond Scholarship in English
2020 University of Victoria President's Scholarship
2019 University of Victoria Foundation Scholarship
readings & events
Host. Planet Earth Poetry. Rusell’s Books, Victoria BC. upcoming:
May 29, 2026. New Horizon’s Afternoon Reading: Scott Jackshaw.
April 17, 2026. National Poetry Month Event: Brandi Bird & Leanne Dunic. past:
March 13, 2026. Victoria’s Youth Poet Laureate Shauntelle Dick-Charleson & A Jamali Rad.
February 27, 2026. D.M. Bradford & Daniel Cowper.Featured Reader. The Emerging Writers Reading Series. Virtual event (Toronto-based), 2025.Featured Reader. Special 30th Anniversary Event: The Planet Earth Poetry Poets. Victoria, BC, 2025.Featured Reader. The Warren Undergraduate Review: Editor’s Showcase. Victoria, BC, 2021.
work with me
I am available for readings, book reviews, work solicitations, editorial commissions, workshop facilitations, and more. Please contact for rates, scheduling and other information.
editing services
As a freelance writer and editor, I offer comprehensive editing services from developmental edits to final copyedits, always with respect and enthusiasm for your work. My editing experience includes serving on the poetry editorial boards for literary venues such as yolk, PRISM international, and The Warren Review, as well as writing professionally for Destination Vancouver and the Province of British Columbia. I have copyedited chapbooks, provided developmental edits for manuscripts in progress, and also offer line edits on individual poems.Whichever stage your project is at, my approach is grounded in the belief that it is always a privilege to be trusted with someone's words; I would be delighted to help you bring your writing to its fullest potential.
workshops
I am available for visits to classrooms, organizations, seniors facilities, writing groups, and your pet lizard's birthday. Currently, I lead monthly poetry workshops for older adults at Amica Senior Lifestyles.
contact
I want to hear from you!
