Susan Alexander's suite of poems, Vigil, received the 2019 Ross and Davis Mitchell Prize for Faith and Poetry. In her debut collection of poems, The Dance Floor Tilts (Thistledown 2017), a cow-eyed goddess steals a nymph's tongue and steering wheels are taken over by octopi. Her follow-up volume, Nothing You Can Carry (Thistledown 2020), focuses on apprehensions (climate change) and mysteries (love) in a world increasingly separate from the sacred. "Mostly, this collection is a cautionary tale," writes Dr. Laura Apol, "a reminder of what is loved and what is always, ever, in danger of being lost." Alexander's wide-ranging imagination is fuelled by eclectic work experiences such as working as a chambermaid, a CBC Radio journalist and an associate at a boutique investment firm. Alexander is the winner of the 2016 Short Grain poetry prize and the 2015 Vancouver Writers' Festival Contest. Her poems have been published in many publications such as SubTerrain, Arc, CV2, Grain, Room, The Antigonish Review and PRISM international. She lives on Bowen Island.

BOOKS:

The Dance Floor Tilts (Thistledown 2017) $17.95 978-1-77187-152-5

Nothing You Can Carry (Thistledown 2020) $20 9781771871983

[BCBW 2020]