Kelly Madden's writing is raw, unflinching, and deeply rooted in place. She speaks for the overlooked: those lost to the overdose crisis, those unhoused, and the ecosystems we continue to erase.
Unresponsive is her second poetry collection (Caitlin Press, 2026). Her debut collection, If I’d Known (2021), established her as a writer committed to confronting the hardest truths with precision and compassion.
As a part-time taxi driver in the Comox Valley, Madden witnesses the lives of the invisible people unfold in her review mirror—those who carry their pain quietly and who entrust her with their stories. Their experiences shape the moral and emotional core of her work.
Bringing 24 years of sobriety to the conversation, she writes for the hopeless, the addicted, the discarded, and those living in the margins. Her book stands as a call to action—urging the government to address systemic failures that have left so many, alongside their families, behind.
Photo credit: Bellaphoto
Kelly respectfully acknowledges that the land in which she lives is on the Unceded Traditional Territory of the K’ómoks First Nation, the traditional keepers of this land.
Copyright © 2026 Kelly Madden - Writer - All Rights Reserved.
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