Feature Friday - Kalden Rangdröl Dhatsenpa
Name
Kalden Rangdröl Dhatsenpa
Pronouns
He / Him
Bio
Kalden Rangdröl Dhatsenpa is a Tibetan writer, poet, photographer, and community journalist based in Tiohtià:ke/Mooniyang/Montréal.
He is the host of Local 514, a Montreal news podcast recognized as one of the Best Podcasts in Montreal in the 2026 Cult MTL Readers' Poll. Kalden serves on the editorial board of Canadian Dimension and is a former federal candidate for the New Democratic Party.
His work has appeared in Lausan, Carte Blanche, Discordia, Canadian Dimension, Commo Mag, The Breach, Yeshe Journal and elsewhere.
Instagram
@westmountyoga
Painting of Kalden Rangdröl Dhatsenpa by Lucy Gill
Where in Montreal are you located?
Longueuil.
What do you love about that neighborhood?
It’s where I grew up so it’s hard not to love it. Great cheap food. No pretensions. I particularly love the sunsets we get a great view of from the south shore.
What’s your favourite art space in Montreal and why?
That's a hard question. There’s a lot of love I have for so many art spaces in Montreal. A recent one I visited was Plein Sud in Edouard Montpetit. I saw Nada El-Omari’s recent exhibition there, it really left a strong impression on me.
Describe your art in your own words.
Wow, what a question. The different mediums I practice speak to separate focuses and interests of mine, but as I age I become more interested in synthesizing across them. Broadly speaking my poetry is mostly attempts to keep certain Tibetan practices and perspectives alive in this north American settler context. There's your classic Buddhist explorations, image-heavy verses that describe pastoral scenes. I'm often compelled by the push and pull of cities and the surrounding hinterlands. I find this interplay very much alive in Tibet but here in North America, as well. My musical project Gridsense, which is in SUCH a nascent stage, is approaching that city v country dynamic but I have yet to release the full EP.
Travel is a core theme to much of my work across mediums. It takes centre stage in my photography. Exploring places and their size, immensity. I love photos that makes me feel small. I never really cared for portraits in that regard.
What drew you to writing?
I loved telling stories throughout elementary school. I was always drawn to the challenge of making words really reflect my own feelings and perspectives about the world. There was an essay competition my grade six teacher signed me up for that I took to so intensely. I can easily source the satisfaction I get from finding the perfect word to the experience of writing for that competition. But that's only part of the picture. I can't lay claim to a love of writing just through my own enjoyment. The environment I grew up in and my family’s writing pedigree set me up well. My father was a well-regarded Tibetan poet and essayist, my grandfather told such big stories, and my mother had a profound love of reading and worked as the managing editor for the Tibet Journal so wordsmithing has always been the family occupation. Including my younger brother Dorji who pumps out such vivid mature poetry despite his youth. It's a lush garden I’ve grown from is what I'm saying.
What have you been working on recently?
Mostly love letters to my partner haha. But those are just for her. I'm working on fleshing out some songs on my EP. Writing wise I have a few things on the burners. I’m constantly putting hours into a collection of my poems around the passing of my father. I write about it often naturally, but lately I feel the collection, or my poems around it, are cohesive enough to merit a collection. I'm aiming to release a print version of a photopoetry/travel parafiction project that I’ve presented at a few public readings.
Between the Clouds by Kalden Dhatsenpa
How would you describe your voice?
Lyrical and self-effacing.
Where do you find your inspiration?
I wish I knew. Comes with the wind. Let's say the elemental world. The material life.
Describe your writing process.
Have a line that I repeat to myself like a mantra. Write it down. Do other things for weeks or months. Lose my mind. Sit down and vomit it out, some kind of song of realization. Clean up my mess. Schlep it around to different journals and publications. Repeat.
Who are some of your favorite writers?
Phil A Neel. A communist geographer who writes beautifully about the cold machinations of capital in this century.
My dear friend Jack Daniel Christie is also a huge inspiration. I feel grateful to be able to pick his brain and receive advice from time to time.
The Sixth Dalai Lama, who wrote passionate erotic poetry. Rumi. Khalil Gibran come to mind.
I love Yorgos Lanthimos’ scripts, as well as Hayao Miyazaki’s, if I'm allowed to include screenplays.
What do you love about Montreal's literary scene?
The amount of cool things happening at the grassroots level. The scene is very much alive and that's worth celebrating.
