Ann-Marie Metten Announces Retirement After 20 Years of Leadership at Historic Joy Kogawa House

After 20 years serving as co-founder and executive director of Joy Kogawa House, I am writing to let you know that I will be retiring at the end of Summer 2024. My time at this historic space has been filled with imagining and building a space for writers in one of Canada’s most arts-based and prolific cities.

During my time at Joy Kogawa House, with an incredible team of board members, interns, and volunteers, we have transformed the 1912 house in Marpole into a place to live and create new writing, ignite a love of the literary arts, and provide educational and inspirational experiences for visitors, students of all ages, teachers, neighbours, and community members. 

There is no better time for a new executive director, a leader who can join the team and take Joy Kogawa House into the future. When seeking to fill this position, we looked for someone who would continue to build on this strong foundation, advance the growing need for creative space for writers and other artists, chart the course for a strategic future, and uphold our mission to share stories and histories.

It was Fiona Tinwei Lam, Vancouver’s poet laureate for 2022–2024, who introduced me to Johnny D. Trinh, then artistic director of Vancouver Poetry House. Fiona wanted to connect us with Johnny because of his wonderful spoken-word work and his community role as facilitator, programmer, host of the annual Verses Festival of Words, and more.

I invited Johnny Trinh to participate in a short residency at the end of May 2023 and present a performance coaching workshop for other poets. Johnny Trinh then joined us again for our Poetry Night in September 2023, helped find resident writers in December 2023, and then joined us again for a residency in February 2024. I was highly impressed with Johnny Trinh’s experience in arts administration at the municipal and arts organization levels and a vision for the future began to develop.

Our board of directors began a hiring process with the goal of inviting Johnny D. Trinh to take on the interim executive director position in Spring 2024, and Johnny and I have worked together since that time to ensure a smooth transition and to share relevant histories and plans. 

In September 2024, I am looking forward to introducing Johnny D. Trinh and celebrating the transition to new leadership. I cannot wait to come together to honour the past and toast the future. It has been an incredible journey and the support you provided as a member has impacted everyone involved at Joy Kogawa House, myself included. Together we have built more than a place for writers. We built a community, united around the shared belief that understanding our past is the key to successfully navigating the future. WIth you as a member of this community, the future of Joy Kogawa House remains full of promise. 

With sincere gratitude, 

Ann-Marie Metten
Executive director emeritus