Alexandra Oliver

Poet

Author's 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.

Education: 
Stonecoast MFA, University of Southern Maine MFA
Writers Retreats: 
The Writer’s Hotel “Mini MFA” Conference 

Publications & Prizes

Anthologies:
Best Canadian Poetry in English 2019 (Biblioasis Press, 2019)
,
The Next Wave (Palimpsest Press, 2018)
,
Best Canadian Poetry 2015 (Tightrope Books, 2017)
,
The Medium is the Muse: Channelling Marshall McLuhan (NeoPoiesis Press, 2014)
Books:
Hail, the Invisible Watchman (Biblioasis Press, 2022)
,
Let the Empire Down (Biblioasis Press, 2016)
,
Measure for Measure: An Anthology of Poetic Meters. (Everyman, 2015)
,
Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway (Biblioasis Press, 2013)
Chapbook:
On the Oven Sits a Maiden (Frog Hollow Press, 2018)
Journals:
Arc
,
Atlanta Review
,
Edgewise ElectroLitCentre
,
FutureCycle Poetry
,
Geist
,
In Hell's Belly
,
Light
,
Light Quarterly
,
Mezzo Cammin
,
New Guard
,
Nexus
,
Orbis
,
Partisan Review
,
Raintown Review
,
Softblow
,
The Toronto Quarterly
,
The Vancouver Sun
,
The Walrus
,
Verse Daily
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)

Watch

Personal Favorites

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
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

More Information

Gives readings: 
Yes
Travels for readings: 
Yes
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
Fluent in: 
English, French
Born in: 
Vancouver, BC
Canada
British Columbia
Raised in: 
Vancouver, BC
Canada
British Columbia
Please note: All information in the Directory is provided by the listed writers or their representatives.
Last update: Aug 10, 2022