Susan takes you down, to a poem by the river... having studied with Susan Musgrave, Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang has edited poems by women named Susan-or Suzanne, or Sue, or Suzie-for Desperately Seeking Susans. "The idea was born out of my love for Susans,"; says Tsiang. "One day I said to my husband 'I'm thinking of a Canadian poet named Susan who I love. Guess who?' After he fruitlessly named 12 Susans that he knew I loved, it occurred to me that something weird and wonderful was going on. Though Susan was never number one on the baby name lists in Canada, Susans have risen to the top of Canadian poetry. This anthology is really just a celebration of the ridiculous surfeit of talent we have in our Canadian Susans. As for Desperately Seeking Sarahs, it really doesn't have the same ring. I'm a Susanophile, and that's that."; Tsiang's second poetry collection, Sweet Devilry (Oolichan $17.95) recently won the Gerald Lampert Award. Meanwhile, Bill New's YVR (Oolichan $17.95) has won the City of Vancouver Book Award for his poems about the city's history, geography and politics. New was simultaneously selected by a different jury to receive the annual Mayor's Award for literary arts in Vancouver.

Susans: 978-0-88982-287-0;
Sweet Devilry: 978-088982-273-3;
YVR: 978-0-88982-280-1

[BCBW 2012]