"Lara Bozabalian has earned her place as one of Canada's most talented poets." ~ David Silverberg
Lara Bozabalian
Poet, educator, and artist exploring memory, place and inheritance.
About Lara
Award-winning poet, educator, and arts organizer, Lara Bozabalian designs literary and learning experiences that help people think more creatively, write more courageously, and build communities where curiosity can flourish.
For more than twenty years, she has worked at the intersection of education, literature, and innovation, leading workshops, keynote presentations, and collaborative learning experiences for schools, universities, festivals, and organizations across Canada and internationally. Whether she is working with educators, students, or writers, her goal is the same: to create spaces where people feel deeply engaged, intellectually challenged, and inspired to make meaningful work.
Lara is Head of English at one of Ontario's most accomplished public high schools, where she has helped develop district-leading programs in creative writing, Indigenous education, and student voice. She founded Be Heard: Festival of Student Voices, an initiative that connected thousands of young people with internationally celebrated writers and spoken word artists, and during COVID she co-led (alongside educator Alison Thorpe) the York Region Writers Guild, bringing together students from across a school board to write, collaborate, and build community in a safe, virtual space. She also helped develop one of Ontario's first Grade 11 English courses centred on First Nations, Metis and Inuit voices, work that continues to shape classrooms across the district.
As a poet, Lara is the author of two collections of poetry, including a Canadian bestseller. She has featured at literary festivals throughout North America, Ireland, and Singapore, represented Toronto at national and international spoken word competitions, delivered a celebrated TEDx talk, and wrote and narrated Crowd the Schoolhouse, a documentary that received Best Writing and Best Use of Genre at the Hot Docs International Documentary Challenge. Her work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council, and she was named Toronto's Best Poet by NOW Magazine in both 2014 & 2015.
More recently, Lara completed The Poetry of Public Places, a Canada Council of the Arts-supported interdisciplinary project exploring how poetry can transform public spaces and deepen our understanding of belonging, memory, and community. Across every aspect of her work, she believes that creativity is not simply a way to express ourselves, but a way to better understand ourselves and one another.
Milk Teeth Collective
'teaching' is a collection of poetry that delves into the hearts and minds of the modern school system. From labrynthian hallways, to Snap Chat all-nighters, this text deconstructs and reimagines possibilities through the stories of students and teachers. Collages by Una Janicijevic.
Milk Teeth Collective is an interdisciplinary collaboration between Lara and visual artist/designer Una Janićijević. This work explores the intersections of care, art, and equity through public interventions, zines, books and curriculum development. Through collaborative artistic endeavour, Lara and Una create spaces that honour the experiences of artist-caregivers and their children, reimagining galleries, sidewalks, and classrooms as sites of shared authorship.
They work with poetry, image, and education to unsettle traditional narratives about who belongs in the art world. MTC projects draw on lived experience and collective struggle—acknowledging how class, race, gender, disability, and geography shape access to creativity. With roots in community-building and critical pedagogy, this collective honours care as cultural production.
In 2025, Milkteeth Collective launched Art Audit: Children’s Voices in the Art World, a research-based pilot project that centers the voices of children and artist-caregivers in the evaluation of public art spaces. This research-based evaluation is supported in part by Balancing Act Canada and MOTHRA: Artist-Parent Project as part of the Level UP! initiative.
Featured in the Poetry in Voice (Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry) Senior Poem Anthology and the Mixed Tape Seried, edited by Brendan MacLeod.
Blackout Poetry/Collage pieces were published by Milk Teeth Collective in PoetryXCollage in January 2026.
How has the writing of poetry affected your life?
The writing of poetry has, quite simply, offered me a better way to live in the world. I deeply, humbly love what poems can do, and I strive to be the highest version of myself in creating them. Through the challenges of articulation, I have become more patient and contemplative with myself and others. I find myself listening much more consciously to the world, and to my experiences, than when I was a younger person. Loving something enough to strive for fluency, and appreciating how long of a road it takes to get there, has probably been the greatest lesson; I am continually amazed at how this relationship grows, falters, renews, strengthens. I am continually amazed that I never walk away. There is something about this process that clears me out, and leaves me open for new experiences. I know that I would not have become the person (or teacher) that I am, without a heart that beats for poetry.
~ From an interview with Glenda Jackson; Coburg Poetry Workshop
” One of the finest examples of wordsmithing I’ve ever laid ears on.” ~ Shayne Koyczan
Book A Workshop
I partner with universities, faculties of education, schools, and organizations to design learning experiences that help people think more deeply, write more courageously, and lead with greater humanity.
Drawing on more than twenty years as an award winning educator, my work sits at the intersection of literacy, creativity, well-being, and innovation. Whether I am working with pre-service teachers, school leaders, faculty members, or students, I create practical, memorable experiences that invite people to slow down, notice more carefully, and build rooms where curiosity and belonging thrive.
From keynote addresses and professional learning to writing workshops, curriculum design, and educational consulting, every session is tailed to the goals of the organization and grounded in both research and lived classroom practice.
Areas of Collaboration
• Keynotes & Conference Presentations
• Faculty of Educations Programs
• Professional Learning for Educators
• AI & Human Centered Learning
• Writing & Creativity Workshops
• Wellness Through Writing
• Curriculum & Program Design
• Student Voice & Innovation
Whether you are planning a conference, faculty institute, leadership retreat, or professional learning series, I would love to help design an experience that leaves people inspired long after the day ends.
