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Poet and translator D. M. Bradford, the latest Ellen and Warren Tallman writer-in-residence, officially launches their 2025 term with 91��ܽ’s Department of English on October 2^nd.

Bradford has already been offering writing consultations with SFU community members and the public every Tuesday. While some people may be nervous about booking a meeting, Bradford says they should just expect an open discussion.

“Largely, I want them to come prepared for a gentle and mostly directed-by-them conversation,” Bradford says. “We will discuss questions like, ‘Where are they headed with this kind of material?’ ‘What do they think is the future of this kind of work for them?’ ‘What are some of the things they’re struggling with?’ ‘What are some of the things they’re feeling pretty good about?’”

Bradford’s early poems also came from a place of vulnerability. They explored mental health issues like depression. However, they didn’t try to find solutions to their problems. Instead, they focused on finding their way through their emotions and trying to understand their feelings. In Bradford’s award-winning debut book of poetry, , they delve into the intergenerational trauma they experienced growing up and issues of race, gender, and more.

“I always approached writing the book from the perspective that these kinds of experiences are terribly commonplace,” says Bradford. “I don’t think they were unusual in the communities that I grew up in. I don’t think that they’re that unusual in any community.”

People could indeed relate to their experiences and Dream of No One But Myself was popular with readers, which surprised Bradford.

“When people write me, often they write me about that book,” they say. “It clearly continues to strike a chord. I’m grateful for that.”

Bradford’s second book, , focuses on African American history. In it they examine the nature of history and how people “research” it, put it together, and make sense of what happened in the past. Bradford also examined how Black people today are connected to the history of enslavement.

“There are all kinds of big and little things in your life that you can directly connect back to those histories, so it feels very connected because it is,” they say. “Also, it’s very different. The givens of racism today aren’t that antebellum reality of social death, this given of having zero real personhood in even the letter of the law and the way the community thinks about you, the way the country thinks about you, etc.”

During the residency, Bradford will continue to explore ideas like these and continue to work on a new book that they describe as “mostly prose–it’s in that weird space somewhere between the novel and non-fiction and poetry.” They’ll also be working on translating a book of French poetry.

At their October 2^nd reading and launch event, Bradford will be introduced by SFU English professor Cornel Bogle. They will read from their work and give the audience an insight into their life as a writer. This will be followed by a catered reception.

Everyone is welcome to this free event. Please register or email: englcmns@sfu.ca