Ann-Bernice Thomas doesn鈥檛 hesitate when asked the most surprising aspect of being named the City of Victoria鈥檚 2016 Youth Poet Laureate. 鈥淎ll the attention,鈥 she says with a quick
laugh. 鈥淐onsidering I didn't really hear anything about last year's poet, it's been really surprising . . . but nice.鈥 A second-year double-major in theatre and writing, Thomas was announced as
the new Youth Poet Laureate in January and quickly received a flurry of attention from nearly all of Victoria鈥檚 media outlets. Her one-year term, jointly funded by the City of Victoria and the
Greater Victoria Public Library, ends on December 31, for which she will receive a $1,750 honorarium and $1,000 in special project funding.