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In her fourth collection, Mandorla (Ronsdale), Nancy Holmes of Kelowna explores the complications of being a parent after her 20 years as the mother of three children, one with a disability. Starting with poems about the Virgin Mary, she links motherhood to historical and mythological forces, drawing on fairy tales and her Ukrainian heritage. In The Adultery Poems (Ronsdale Press, 2002), she traces the course of adultery in its mix of jubilation, passion and doubt. The poems serve as the third party in the triangle, reminding the narrator that her life and follies are the fuel for art. "No matter how ridiculously one behaves or how poorly one chooses, the adventure of lust and love is one of the deepest pleasures of our adult life," according to the publicity material. The Adultery Poems was short listed for the ReLit Awards.
Writing of life and death issues such as a child attempting suicide and large parts of North America burning in hellish wildfires, Nancy Holmes questions whether spiritual solace is possible or even desirable in her sixth collection of poems, Arborophobia (Univ. of Alberta Press, $19.99). The book’s title sequence, coming from the word for hatred of trees, blurs the lines between humans and Ponderosa pines “reminding us how fragile our conceptual frameworks really are” according to publicity for the book. In another sequence, Holmes references the medieval mystic known as Julian of Norwich with her call “to practise the art / of letting things happen.” Yet Holmes also exhorts us to examine the harm people have done to the planet and those we love.
Born in Edmonton on February 9, 1959, Nancy Holmes went to high school in Toronto and to the University of Calgary where she received her MA in English. She lives in Kelowna and teaches English and Creative Writing at UBC Okanagan.
ARRIVAL IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: 1991
AWARDS:
First Prize, Kalamalka National Poetry Compeition, 1988.
First Prize, Alberta Culture Short Story Contest 1987.
BOOKS:
Arborophobia (University of Alberta Press, 2022) $19.99 9781772126020
The Flicker Tree: Okanagan Poems (Ronsdale, 2012) $15.95 978-1-55-380-183-2
Mandorla (Ronsdale, 2005) $15.95
The Adultery Poems (Ronsdale, 2002)
Down to the Golden Chersonese: Victorian Lady Traveller (Sono Nis, 1991)
Valancy and the New World (Kalamalka Press, 1988)
[BCBW 2022] "Poetry"
Writing of life and death issues such as a child attempting suicide and large parts of North America burning in hellish wildfires, Nancy Holmes questions whether spiritual solace is possible or even desirable in her sixth collection of poems, Arborophobia (Univ. of Alberta Press, $19.99). The book’s title sequence, coming from the word for hatred of trees, blurs the lines between humans and Ponderosa pines “reminding us how fragile our conceptual frameworks really are” according to publicity for the book. In another sequence, Holmes references the medieval mystic known as Julian of Norwich with her call “to practise the art / of letting things happen.” Yet Holmes also exhorts us to examine the harm people have done to the planet and those we love.
Born in Edmonton on February 9, 1959, Nancy Holmes went to high school in Toronto and to the University of Calgary where she received her MA in English. She lives in Kelowna and teaches English and Creative Writing at UBC Okanagan.
ARRIVAL IN BRITISH COLUMBIA: 1991
AWARDS:
First Prize, Kalamalka National Poetry Compeition, 1988.
First Prize, Alberta Culture Short Story Contest 1987.
BOOKS:
Arborophobia (University of Alberta Press, 2022) $19.99 9781772126020
The Flicker Tree: Okanagan Poems (Ronsdale, 2012) $15.95 978-1-55-380-183-2
Mandorla (Ronsdale, 2005) $15.95
The Adultery Poems (Ronsdale, 2002)
Down to the Golden Chersonese: Victorian Lady Traveller (Sono Nis, 1991)
Valancy and the New World (Kalamalka Press, 1988)
[BCBW 2022] "Poetry"
