About

I live and write in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.  I’m a secondary school English teacher by day, and a fervent reader and writer of poetry by night and on weekends.  My publications include You Must Imagine The Cold Here (Your Scrivener Press, 1997) and braille on water (Penumbra Press, 2001).  My latest book of poems, The Narcoleptic Madonna (Penumbra Press) was published in 2012. In spring 2013, I read at The Battle of the Bards at the IFOA at Harbourfront in Toronto. In July 2013, I travelled to work with Ken Babstock at the Sage Hill Writing Experience in Saskatchewan.   I have published poems and short stories in a variety of Canadian journals over the last twenty years, and worked with my mentor, the late Timothy Findley, via the Humber School for Writers in the late 1990s.  I was on the editorial board of northeastern Ontario’s poetry ezine, terra north/nord.

Most recently, I took part in a historical fiction intensive with Lawrence Hill at the Banff Centre in Alberta, in April 2016.  I’ve just been named as the fourth poet laureate (the first woman in the role!) for the City of Greater Sudbury and my term runs until early 2018.  I hope to partner with the Northern Initiative for Social Action (NISA), to emphasize how poetry can help those with mental health struggles rise up creatively, as well as with the Art Gallery of Sudbury and other non-profit arts organizations, to raise the profile of the literary, poetic, theatrical, musical and visual arts in Sudbury.  Beyond that, I’m interested in how poetry can help those who are in palliative care, or the families and care givers of those who are in palliative care.  (I’m a strong believer in prescribing poetry, and books (!), to people as a way of lifting spirits during difficult times.)

My next book of poems will be published in Fall 2017 by Black Moss Press, in Windsor, Ontario.

In the last year or so, I’ve fallen in love with writing plays, thanks to Playwrights’ Junction at the Sudbury Theatre Centre (STC), under the guidance and direction of Matthew Heiti. So far, I’ve had two short plays presented there, “Ghost of a Chance” and “Sparrows Over Slag.” I’m continuing to work on my plays, receiving an Ontario Arts Council Theatre Creators’ Reserve grant to work on “Sparrows” and get dramaturgical input on the piece.  I’m also hoping to finish the first draft of my new novel this spring. I am a member of the League of Canadian Poets, the Writers’ Union of Canada, and PEN Canada.  In my spare time, I travel, write, walk, listen to (and sing!) traditional Irish music, practice yoga, sing loudly, dance with my dogs in the living room, and meditate.