Cecily Nicholson is a local poet and professor with an ear to community impacted by food insecurity and carcerality. She has been commissioned by spaces such as the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, the Centre for Indigenous Research Creation at Queen's University, Hägerstensåsens Medborgarhus in Stockholm, and the Surrey School District. Nicholson has held the Ellen and Warren Tallman Writer in Residence SFU (2017), Writer in Residence at the University of Windsor (2021) and Holloway Lecturer in the Practice of Poetry at UC Berkeley (2025).