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Home > Alexandra Oliver

Alexandra Oliver [1]

Listed as: 
Poet
Public address: 
Canada
CA
Email: 
aeaoliver@gmail.com
Bio: 

Alexandra Oliver was born in Vancouver, BC. She is the author of three collections published through Biblioasis: Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway (2013; recipient of the Pat Lowther Memorial Award), Let the Empire Down ( 2016), and Hail, the Invisible Watchman (2022). Her libretto for From the Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King, conceived in conjunction with composer Scott Wilson at the University of Birmingham, was performed by Continuum Music in Toronto in December, 2017. Oliver is a past co-editor of Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters (Everyman’s Library/Random House, 2015) as well as of the formalist journal The Rotary Dial. She has performed her work for CBC Radio and NPR, as well as at The National Poetry Slam and a murder of festivals and conferences. Oliver holds an M.F.A in Creative Writing from the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast program and a Ph.D. in English and Cultural Studies from McMaster University. She lives in Burlington, Ontario with her husband and son.

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
In which languages are you fluent?: 
English
French
Favorite authors: 
Elizabeth Bishop Gwendolyn Brooks Anne Sexton Lucille Clifton Theodore Roethke Charlotte Mew Natasha Trethaway Marianne Moore Audre Lorde Stephanie Burt Thom Gunn Tony Harrison Langston Hughes Molly Peacock Edith Wharton Henry James Vladimir Nabokov Lisa Robertson Erika Dawson George Szirtes Louise Bogan Gerard Manley Hopkins Robert Lowell
Born in: 
Vancouver, BC
Canada
British Columbia
Raised in: 
Vancouver, BC
Canada
British Columbia
Website: 
http://biblioasis.com/brand/oliver-alexa… [2]
Prizes won: 

 

2017: Let the Empire Down shortlisted for The Pat Lowther Memorial Award

2015: “Margaret Rose” selected for Best Canadian Poetry in English 2015, ed. Jacob McArthur Mooney, Tightrope Books.

2014: Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway, Winner, Pat Lowther Memorial Award

2013: Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway named as a National Post Poetry Book of the Year

2012 & 2009: Scholarship, West Chester Poetry Conference, West Chester University

2010 & 2011: Pushcart Prize Nominee

2009: Shortlist, CBC Literary Awards (Poetry)

Education: 
Stonecoast MFA, University of Southern Maine
What I'm reading now: 
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
Advice from the Lights by Stephanie Burt
The Small Blades Hurt by Erika Dawson
Don't Read Poetry by Stephanie Burt
Identifies as: 
Canadian
Prefers to work with: 
Adults
At Risk Youth
Children
Disability
Illness/Wellness
Immigration
Incarcerated Individuals
LGBTQ
Men
Mental Health
Parents
Schools
Seniors
Teachers
Teenagers
Women

Source URL:https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/alexandra_oliver

Links
[1] https://www.pw.org/directory/writers/alexandra_oliver [2] http://biblioasis.com/brand/oliver-alexandra/