Lisa Robertson (born July 22, 1961) is a Canadian poet, essayist and translator. She lives in France.

Life and work

Born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Robertson moved to

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

in 1979, first living on Saltspring Island, then in Vancouver, where studied English literature and art history as a mature student at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

(1984–1988) before leaving the university without a degree to become an independent bookseller (1988–1994). She owned Proprioception Books, a bookstore in downtown

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

specializing in poetry, theory and criticism, where she also hosted readings. During the 90s, she was also a member of The Kootenay School of Writing, which was a writer-run collective, and Artspeak Gallery. She began to publish and work collectively in this community of poets and artists. Her first book was a

chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...

, ''The Apothecary'', published by Tsunami Editions in 1991. Since then she has published nine books of poetry, three books of essays, and a novel. Since 1995 she has been a freelance writer and teacher, occasionally working as a writer in residence or visiting professor in various universities in Canada, the USA and the UK. Her first such position was as Judith E. Wilson Visiting Fellow in Poetry, at Cambridge University in 1999. During that time she completed the research that resulted in her book ''The Weather'' (2001), which has since been translated to French, Polish and Swedish. Her many essays on the contemporary visual arts, published in gallery and museum catalogues since the mid-1990s, are collected in her 2003 book ''Occasional Works and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture''. ''Anemones: A Simone Weil Project'', her 2021 book, contains Robertson's translations of

Simone Weil Simone Adolphine Weil ( ; ; 3 February 1909 – 24 August 1943) was a French philosopher, mystic and political activist. Despite her short life, her ideas concerning religion, spirituality, and politics have remained widely influential in cont ...

's 1941 essay "What the Occitan Inspiration Consists Of" and the 12th C poem "Lark" by

Bernart de Ventadorn Bernart de Ventadorn (also Bernard de Ventadour or Bernat del Ventadorn; – ) was an Occitan poet-composer troubadour of the classical age of troubadour poetry. Generally regarded as the most important troubadour in both poetry and music, hi ...

, as well as extensive annotations, an introductory essay, and archival material. In 2006, Robertson was a judge of the

Griffin Poetry Prize The Griffin Poetry Prize is a Canadian poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. Before 2022, two separate awards went to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language. I ...

and Holloway poet-in-residence at

UC Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

. From 2007 to 2010 she taught as visiting professor at

California College of the Arts The California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996, it opened a second campus in ...

in San Francisco. In fall 2010 she was writer-in-residence at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. In spring 2014 she was the Bain Swigget lecturer in Poetry at Princeton University. In 2017 she was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by

Emily Carr University of Art and Design The Emily Carr University of Art and Design (stylized as Emily Carr University of Art + Design and abbreviated as ECU) is a public university of art school, art and design located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1925 as the Van ...

in Vancouver, and in 2018 she received the Foundation for Contemporary Arts C.D. Wright Award. Her literary archive is housed at Simon Fraser University Library's Special Collections. Her first novel, '' The Baudelaire Fractal'', was published by Coach House Books in January 2020. It was a finalist for the

ReLit Award The ReLit Awards are Canadian literary prizes awarded annually to book-length works in the novel, short-story and poetry categories."Three indie writers honoured by ReLit Awards". ''The Globe and Mail'', July 19, 2007. Founded in 2000 by Newfoundla ...

for fiction in 2021, and for the

Governor General's Award for English-language fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in English.2020 Governor General's Awards The shortlisted nominees for the 2020 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were announced on May 4, 2021, and the winners were announced on June 1.Pat Lowther Award The Pat Lowther Memorial Award is an annual Canadian literary award presented by the League of Canadian Poets to the year's best book of poetry by a Canadian woman. The award was established in 1980 to honour poet Pat Lowther, who was murdered by ...

Selected bibliography

* ''The Apothecary'' (Vancouver, BC: Tsunami, 1991; reissued 2001; reissued 2007 by BookThug) * ''The Barscheit Horse'' with Catriona Strang and Christine Stewart (Hamilton, Ontario: Berkeley Horse, 1993) * ''XEclogue II-V'' (Vancouver: Sprang Texts, 1993) * ''XEclogue'' (Vancouver: Tsunami Editions, 1993; reissued by New Star Books, 1999) * ''The Glove: An Essay on Interpretation'' (Vancouver: UBC Fine Arts Gallery, 1993) * ''The Badge'' (Hamilton, Ontario: The Berkeley Horse/Mindware, 1994) * ''Earth Monies'' (Mission, BC: DARD, 1995) * ''The Descent'' (Buffalo, NY: Meow, 1996) * ''Debbie: An Epic'' (Vancouver: New Star Books, 1997; UK: Reality Street, 1997) * ''Soft Architecture: A Manifesto'' (Vancouver: Artspeak Gallery, 1999) * ''The Weather'' (Vancouver: New Star Books, 2001; UK: Reality Street, 2001) ** French edition: ''Le Temps'', translated by Éric Suchère (Caen: Éditions Nous, 2016) ** Swedish edition: ''Vädret'', translated by Niclas Nilsson (Malmö: Rámus, 2017) * ''A Hotel'' (Vancouver: Vancouver Film School, 2003) * ''Occasional Work and Seven Walks from the Office for Soft Architecture'' (Astoria, OR: Clear Cut Press, 2003) * ''Face/'' (New York: A Rest Press, 2003) * ''Rousseau's Boat'' (Vancouver, BC: Nomados, 2004) * ''First Spontaneous Horizontal Restaurant.'' Belladonna 75. (Brooklyn: Belladonna Books, 2005) * ''The Men: A Lyric Book'' (Toronto: Bookhug, 2006) * ''Lisa Robertson's Magenta Soul Whip'' (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2009) * ''R's Boat'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010) * ''Nilling: Prose'' (Toronto: Bookhug, 2012) * ''Cinema Of the Present'' (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2014) * ''3 Summers'' (Toronto: Coach House Press, 2016) * ''Starlings'' (San Francisco: Krupskaya, 2018) * ''Proverbs of a She-Dandy'' (Paris/Vancouver: Libraries Editeurs, 2018) * ''Thresholds: A Prosody of Citizenship'' (London: Bookworks, 2019) * '' The Baudelaire Fractal'' (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2020) *''Anemones: A Simone Weil Project'' (Amsterdam: If I Can't Dance, 2021) *''Boat'' (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2022)

Selected essays

* "Coasting" with Jeff Derksen, Nancy Shaw, and Catriona Strang. ''Telling it Slant: Avant Garde Poetics of the 1990s''. Ed. Mark Wallace. (Tuscaloosa: Alabama UP, 2002) * "The Weather: A Report on Sincerity," from ''DC Poetry Anthology 2001''. * "How Pastoral: A Manifesto." ''A Poetics of Criticism''. Ed.

Juliana Spahr Juliana Spahr (born 1966) is an Americans, American poet, literary criticism, critic, and editing, editor. She is the recipient of the 2009 O. B. Hardison, Jr. Poetry Prize, Hardison Poetry Prize awarded by the Folger Shakespeare Library to honor ...

. (Buffalo: Leave Books, 1994) * "My Eighteeneth Century." ''Assembling Alternatives''. Ed. Romana Huk. (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan UP, 2003) * "On Palinode.
''Chicago Review'' 51:4/52:1
(2006)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson, Lisa 1961 births Living people Canadian women poets Canadian feminist writers Roberta C. Holloway Lecturer in the Practice of Poetry Poets from Toronto 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian women novelists Novelists from Toronto

Life and work

Selected bibliography

Selected essays

See also

References