City of Mississauga welcomes its sixth Poet Laureate

The City of Mississauga is pleased to announce that Sneha Subramanian Kanta will be its sixth Poet Laureate, where she will hold this position from 2026 to 2028. Designated as the City’s literary ambassador, Sneha’s role focuses on enhancing poetry, literary arts and elevating writers within the community through various events and initiatives.

This National Poetry Month, the City renews its commitment to celebrating cultural diversity and fostering its creative sectors. One way this is achieved is by bringing on a new Poet and Youth Poet Laureate every two years to help advance the literary arts. The poets provide public access to literacy programming through workshops and performances across the community, while bringing a fresh perspective through their creativity and input on diverse programs.

Sneha is an award-winning writer and academic whose work spans poetry, research and interdisciplinary collaboration. She has authored six chapbook collections and has been recognized with multiple honours, including Mississauga’s 2025 Civic Award of Recognition and the 2025 Cultural Award from Heritage Mississauga. She was the 2025 Woodhaven Artist in Residence at UBC Okanagan where her collection, Hiraeth, was an honouree for the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award. Her writing has appeared internationally, notably in The Penguin Book of Indian Poets. She currently leads the biodiversity niche as a writer in the international climate-focused project, Manufactured Ecosystems, and is a founding editor of Parentheses Journal.

Initiatives like Poetry Month help advance the City’s Future Directions Culture and Library Plans, helping to promote literacy and lifelong learning, while elevating the status of arts and culture across Mississauga.

Every two years, the City embarks on a search for its new Poet Laureate. This honourary position recognizes a poet who writes excellent poetry or spoken word and has written on themes that are relevant to the residents of Mississauga. A selection committee comprised of arts professionals from the community review applications to help appoint a new candidate. Committee members are selected based on their connection to Mississauga’s literary community and include the current Laureates, a Mississauga Library staff member and at least two members of the community.

Poet Laureate submissions are reviewed using following criteria:

• The Poet has made a significant contribution to poetry and the literary arts in Mississauga;
• Artistic merit of the submission, including the relevancy to the City of Mississauga and its values;
• The potential impact of the proposed civic engagement and/or poetry projects as identified in the applicant’s Letter of Intent.

Sneha will take over the role starting on April 8 from the City’s fifth Poet Laureate, Andrea Josic.

The public can expect to catch Sneha in the community at the City’s annual Poetry Slam on April 23. She will also make an appearance at the City’s annual Canada Day celebration at Mississauga Celebration Square on July 1.

To kick-off her new role, Sneha read from one of her poems titled, The Waves Break at Port Credit, at today’s General Committee meeting. See verse below.

The Waves Break at Port Credit

Sunlight peers in a beam after rain. The intention of rain isn’t thunder. Repetition is how we make music. It is the language of wind-driven waves.

Let me sing to you today about billowing clouds near the water, these clouds appear like dogwoods over the husk of Lake Ontario.

A memory of winter in this city is wild carrots growing on the sides before a crossway leads to a park and junipers which remain persistent over the memory of green.

When light returns,
instead of tall maples, birches, willows, poplars, and sycamores sunbeams pass through interstices of junipers.

The oaks and beech in this lane hold onto their leaves throughout winter until new leaves grow in the vernal equinox.

I know the season through lengthening shadows of barren boughs.

Snow has left nothing in the landscape as it was.
I, too, bring you here to witness the anvil of a new season.

The crayon of light drifts further onto the surface of water,
geese fly and perch on a stony shoreline, two swans swiftly glide over the waves.

Let us wield this kinetic grace into our city. May we all celebrate another season, with moonlight bandaging partially uprooted trees in another regeneration.

Quote

“We’re pleased to welcome Sneha as our new Poet Laureate. A remarkable talent in writing and poetry, she emerged from an impressive group of candidates. The Poet Laureates are our community’s poetry champions and help elevate City initiatives in many ways. They offer new perspectives on literacy, advance Mississauga’s arts and culture scene, and connect with our residents at events. We look forward to seeing Sneha’s inspirational work in action over the next two years as she helps the literary arts reach new heights.” – Lisa Boyce-Gonsalves, Director, Recreation and Culture

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• Arts and Culture