Junie Désil is my partner and my best friend. She has committed herself to three values that shape her life and work: fairness, kindness, and thoroughness. From the time she was a child, she would never accept anything that felt unjust, and that quality has only grown stronger. She is kind even when frustrated, often pausing to make sure her words and actions come from compassion. And she is thorough—when she finds a gap in her knowledge, she commits herself to learning and mastering it with quiet discipline.
Junie is also a poet and mentor. Her debut collection, eat salt | gaze at the ocean (Talonbooks, 2020), uses the zombie as metaphor to speak to Black history, migration, and survival. Her new book, allostatic load (2025), takes its title from the medical term for the cumulative impact of stress and systemic racism’s impact on the body. She mentors other writers and teaches through Simon Fraser University’s The Writers Studio.
Beyond her work, Junie brings joy. She is playful, quick to laugh, sharp in her wit, and adventurous in spirit. To me, she is a jewel: radiant, generous, and unforgettable.
-Written by Reza Sebti, Junie Désil’s partner and hypeman
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Which ’hood are you in?
I split my time between Lasqueti Island, where I live off-grid in a small community surrounded by forest, ocean, and feral sheep; Vancouver (Tinseltown/Fort Langley), where I stay connected around writing, and Victoria (Saanich), wrapping up the last year of an MFA.
What do you do?
Quite a bit of everything! I’m a writer, and I also work for a non-profit dedicated to eradicating all forms of human trafficking. Through Simon Fraser University’s Continuing Studies, I mentor poets (The Writers Studio) and teach a course in the Leadership Essentials Certificate program.
What are you currently working on?
I’m deep into my next poetry manuscript, which explores complicity, state violence, and the possibilities of radical love, while simultaneously working on a fiction project or two!
Where can we find your work?
My debut poetry collection, eat salt | gaze at the ocean, was published by Talonbooks (2020), and my second, allostatic load, came out this past April 2025. Available through most bookstores (my favourite being Massy Books), or you can order a copy online through my publisher, Talonbooks. If you take transit, you can see one of my poems featured on various buses in the Lower Mainland through the Poetry In Transit program. You can also find me at Vancouver’s Writers Fest on October 25th. Check out my website for updated info on where to find me reading.
