Roshni Riar is a Punjabi poet, interdisciplinary artist, and community organizer writing and working on the unceded territories of the Squamish, Musqueam, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, colonially known as Vancouver, British Columbia. Through her work, she explores the relationships between cultural and ancestral knowledge, migration, language, and the body. Select publications include Room Magazine, CV2 Magazine, Antigonish Review, Parentheses Journal, and more. She is the co-author of the full-length photo-poetry collection OPENLY and the founder of Come As You Are Sangha; a healing community for racialized folks to connect through ancestral wellness practices.

She holds a BFA in Creative Writing from UBC’s School of Creative Writing and is currently completing an MFA in Creative Writing at UBC’s School of Creative Writing.

Roshni has a long history with Indian Summer, dating back to 2020 where they led a website update project. Since then Roshni has juried the Culture Lab: Artist as Healer program, been presented as an artist, and led Artist Services for the 2025 festival. With this rich knowledge and experience, she now joins the core team as Development & Communications Manager to bring leadership toward telling our story, stewarding partnerships and patron relationships, and cultivating support for the organization.