Jeff Steudel went to Gladstone High School in Vancouver. His poetry has appeared in PRISM, international CV2, The Fiddlehead, subTerrain, and Canadian Literature. He has received the Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize, and he was chosen as a finalist for the CBC Literary Awards. His debut book of poetry is Foreign Park (Anvil Pres, 2015).

According to publicity materials, Foreign Park situates itself in an epoch where prior assurances of the natural world's solidity begin to slip. Poisons enter the Fraser River Basin. An oil slick approaches by night engulfing a fishing vessel, leaving its captain in open waters.

We are told, "Page after page, Foreign Park makes strange with its inhabitants. As it unfolds, it plots itself along the Fraser River overlaying myth and historicity with present day. These calm poems detail the effects of destruction on land and simultaneously explore family and community in Vancouver's coastal cityscape. Foreign Park guides through subtle shifts in temperature and elevation in order to engage with questions on death, ageing, family and fidelity."

The book was shortlisted for a Dorothy Livesay poetry prize.

Jeffrey Mike Steudel died after a battle with cancer in Vancouver on February 2, 2021 at the age of 54.

BOOKS:

Foreign Park (Anvil Press, 2015) $16.00 ISBN 978-1-77214-015-6

[BCBW 2015]