Catherine M. Chandler (born November 1950) is a Canadian

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

, born in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

and raised in

Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre ( , alternatively or ) is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. Located at the center of the Wyoming Valley in Northeastern Pennsylvania, it had a population of 44,328 in the 2020 census. ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, emigrating to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in 1971. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Spanish from

Wilkes University Wilkes University is a private university in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. It has over 2,200 undergraduates and over 2,200 graduate students (both full and part-time). Wilkes was founded in 1933 as a satellite campus of Bucknell University, and bec ...

and a Master of Arts in Education (Culture and Values in Education) from

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. She and her husband currently divide their time between their homes in Saint-Lazare-de-Vaudreuil, Québec, and Punta del Este, Uruguay.

Career

Chandler's work has appeared in numerous print and online journals and anthologies, including ''

Able Muse ''Able Muse'' is a literary magazine established in 1999 by editor-in-chief Alexander Pepple in San Jose, California. It started as an online publication, publishing poems, short stories, essays, book reviews, art, and photography from authors w ...

, Alabama Literary Review, American Arts Quarterly, The Centrifugal Eye, Comstock Review, First Things, Iambs and Trochees, Light Quarterly, The Lyric, Measure, Möbius, Orbis, Quadrant, The Raintown Review, Texas Poetry Journal'' and many others. She is the author of ''Lines of Flight'' (Able Muse Press, 2011), a highly acclaimed full-length collection of poetry in various forms, including the

sonnet A sonnet is a fixed poetic form with a structure traditionally consisting of fourteen lines adhering to a set Rhyme scheme, rhyming scheme. The term derives from the Italian word ''sonetto'' (, from the Latin word ''sonus'', ). Originating in ...

, pantoum,

rondeau (poetry) A ''rondeau'' (; plural: ''rondeaux'') is a form of medieval and Renaissance French poetry, as well as the corresponding musical chanson form. Together with the ballade and the virelai it was considered one of three '' formes fixes'', and one ...

villanelle A villanelle, also known as villanesque,Kastner 1903 p. 279 is a nineteen-line poetic form consisting of five tercets followed by a quatrain. There are two refrains and two repeating rhymes, with the first and third lines of the first tercet re ...

triolet A triolet (, ) is almost always a stanza poem of eight lines, though stanzas with as few as seven lines and as many as nine or more have appeared in its history. Its rhyme scheme is ABaAabAB (capital letters represent lines repeated verbatim) and ...

sapphic stanza The Sapphic stanza, named after the Ancient Greek poet Sappho, is an Aeolic verse form of Quatrain, four lines. Originally composed in quantitative verse and unrhymed, imitations of the form since the Middle Ages typically feature rhyme and accen ...

ballad stanza In poetry, a ballad stanza is a type of a four- line stanza, known as a quatrain, most often found in the folk ballad. The ballad stanza consists of a total of four lines, with the first and third lines written in the iambic tetrameter and the se ...

quatrain A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four Line (poetry), lines. Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India ...

cinquain Cinquain is a class of poetic forms that employ a 5-line pattern. Earlier used to describe any five-line form, it now refers to one of several forms that are defined by specific rules and guidelines. American cinquain The modern form, known as Am ...

cento (poetry) A cento is a poetical work wholly composed of verses or passages taken from other authors, especially the Greek poet Homer and the Roman poet Virgil, disposed in a new form or order. Etymology The Latin term ''cento'' derives from Greek (' ...

and other forms. Her second book, ''Glad and Sorry Seasons'' was published in the Spring of 2014 by Biblioasis Press of Windsor, Ontario, and her third book, "The Frangible Hour", winner of the Richard Wilbur Award, was published by the University of Evansville Press at the end of December 2016. Her fourth full-length collection, "Pointing Home" was published by Kelsay Books in April 2019. Her most recent book, "Annals of the Dear Unknown" , an historical verse-tale, was published by Kelsay Books in 2022. She is also the author of three chapbooks, ''For No Good Reason'', ''All or Nothing'', and ''This Sweet Order'' (White Violet Press/Kelsay Books), co-editor of ''Passages'' (The Greenwood Centre for Living History, 2010), and editor of North Dakota poet Timothy Murphy's "Last Poems" (North Dakota State University Press, 2021). Chandler has lectured in Spanish at

's Department of Languages and Translation for many years and also acted as the university's International Affairs Officer. She taught Spanish at

Concordia University Concordia University () is a Public university, public English-language research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College (Montreal), Loyola College and Sir George Williams Universit ...

in Montreal. She taught French, English, and Music for the Commission scolaire des Trois-Lacs in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges region of Quebec.

Awards

Chandler is the recipient of the 2016 Richard Wilbur Award for her book ''The Frangible Hour'', University of Evansville Press. She also won the 2010

Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award The Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award was established in 1994 by ''The Formalist.'' The award, honoring the poet Howard Nemerov (1920–1991), was an open competition for sonnets in English that drew about 3000 entries annually. Essay by three-time Nemer ...

for her poem "Coming to Terms", the final judge being A.E. Stallings. She was also a finalist for the Nemerov award in 2008 ("Missing"), 2009 ("Singularities"), 2012 ("Composure"), 2013 ("The Watchers at Punta Ballena, Uruguay"), 2014 ("Afterwords"), 2015 ("Oleka"), 2016 ("Family at Sunset Beach, California"), and 2017 ("Celebration"), and won The Lyric Quarterly Prize in 2004 ("Franconia") and the Leslie Mellichamp Award in 2015 ("Chiaroscuro"). Eight of her poems, including "66", "Body of Evidence" and "Writ" received nine

Pushcart Prize The Pushcart Prize is an American literary prize published by Pushcart Press that honors the best "poetry, short fiction, essays or literary whatnot" published in the small presses over the previous year. Magazine and small book press editors are ...

nominations, and her poem, "66" was a finalist for the Best of the Net award in 2006. Her poem, "Discovery" was a finalist in the Able Muse Write Prize (Poetry) and her Millay parody, "Pack Rat" was a finalist in the 2015 X.J. Kennedy Parody Award. Her first full-length collection, ''Lines of Flight'' (Able Muse Press, 2011), was shortlisted for the Poets' Prize in 2013. She has received numerous endorsements for her work, including praise from

Richard Wilbur Richard Purdy Wilbur (March 1, 1921 – October 14, 2017) was an American poet and literary translator. One of the foremost poets, along with his friend Anthony Hecht, of the World War II generation, Wilbur's work, often employing rhyme, and c ...

, who wrote that Chandler's poems "offer the reader a plain eloquence, a keen eye, and a graceful development of thought";

Rhina Espaillat Rhina Polonia Espaillat (born January 20, 1932, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic) is a bilingual Dominican-American poet and translator who is affiliated with the literary movement known as New Formalism in American poetry. She has published el ...

, who praised Chandler's "effortless mastery of form";

Eric Ormsby Eric Linn Ormsby (born 1941 in Atlanta, Georgia) is deputy head of academic research and publications at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He was formerly a professor at McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies, where he also serv ...

, who called Chandler's poems "distillations of experience captured in exquisite measures"; and

X. J. Kennedy X. J. Kennedy (born Joseph Charles Kennedy on August 21, 1929, in Dover, New Jersey) is an American poet, translator, anthologist, editor, and author of children's literature and textbooks on English literature and poetry. He was long known as ...

, who named her "an engaging and authoritative new voice". James Matthew Wilson, in his essay, "Intelligent Design: The Poetry of Catherine Chandler", states: "Chandler stands out for both her particular elegance and fluency of style and for the profundity of her vision." Three of Chandler's poems, "Full Snow Moon," "Superbia," and "The Lost Villages: Inundation Day," were chosen by George Elliott Clarke, Poet Laureate of Canada, for inclusion in the National Poetry Registry, Library of Parliament. Catherine Chandler's poetry blog, The Wonderful Boat, which includes reviews, a list of awards and nominations, sample poems, podcasts and SoundCloud audio recordings, is online at cathychandler.blogspot.com.

Works

"Catherine Chandler"
''Poets & Writers'', July 2013
"Catherine Chandler - Spotlight Poet"
''Able Muse'', Summer 2009
"Distinguished Performance - Catherine Chandler"
''Able Muse/Eratosphere'', July 2010
"The Deep Season"
''The Raintown Review'', Volume 9 Issue 2

''14 by 14'', September 2009

Collections

*''For No Good Reason'', Self-published chapbook; (2008), *''All or Nothing'', Self-published chapbook; (2010),

'Lines of Flight'', Able Muse Press; (April 4, 2011),

'This Sweet Order'', White Violet Press; (March 28, 2012),

'Glad and Sorry Seasons'', Biblioasis; (March 24, 2014),

''The Frangible Hour'', University of Evansville Press; (Winner of the 2016 Richard Wilbur Award),

''Pointing Home'', Kelsay Books; (April 25, 2019),

''Annals of the Dear Unknown'', Kelsay Books; (June 21, 2022),

References

External links

''Intelligent Design: The Poetry of Catherine Chandler'', The Catholic World Report, July, 2017
"Catherine Chandler's Blog"
with numerous reviews of Chandler's work * List of Quebec writers#C {{DEFAULTSORT:Chandler, Catherine Poets from New York City 21st-century American poets 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian women poets McGill University Faculty of Education alumni Academic staff of McGill University Academic staff of Concordia University Living people 1950 births Wilkes University alumni American women poets Poets from Pennsylvania Formalist poets American expatriate writers in Canada Poets from Montreal 21st-century American translators 21st-century Canadian women writers American women academics 21st-century American women writers