Zach Polis is a novelist, poet laureate, and screenwriter. He has been featured in British Vogue, Vogue Italia, and Teen Vogue. He is a Cambridge scholar.
He studied playwriting with Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott at the University of Alberta, where he completed his degree in Drama and Creative Writing with Distinction, and has since trained in screenwriting at the National Film and Television School in the United Kingdom, New York University, and UCLA. He completed Curtis Brown Creative's flagship novel writing programme and is developing work across fiction and screen. His current project is the poetry collection of BIOPOLE, an official United Nations Ocean Decade project led by the British Antarctic Survey, with presentations at COP31 and the Royal Society.
Zach was the inaugural Poet Laureate of St. Albert and served as Alberta Artist in Residence and Arts Ambassador for the Government of Alberta. His work has been exhibited by the Art Gallery of Alberta, and curated by Alessia Glaviano for Vogue Italia. He has performed his poetry at the Bowery Poetry Club and the Poetry Project in New York City, and on CBC Radio. In the UNESCO Cities of Literature, he has performed at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Push the Boat Out in Edinburgh, and Hugo House in Seattle. His practice has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Edmonton Arts Council, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and Writers' Trust of Canada.