Jenny Sampirisi 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 ...

novelist A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living wage, living writing novels and other fiction, while other ...

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

, and university instructor, living 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 ...

. She is the author of the novel ''is/was'' (Insomniac Press) and experimental poetry narrative ''Croak'' (Coach House Books).

Biography

Sampirisi graduated with an MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from the

University of Windsor The University of Windsor (UWindsor, U of W, or UWin) is a public university, public research university in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's southernmost university. It has approximately 17,500 students. The university was incorporated by ...

in 2006 where she studied with poets Susan Holbrook,

Di Brandt Di Brandt (''née'' Janzen; 31 January 1952) often stylized as di brandt, is a Canadian poet and scholar from Winnipeg, Manitoba. She became Winnipeg's first Poet Laureate in 2018. Life and career Brandt grew up in Reinland, a Mennonite farming ...

Margaret Christakos Margaret Christakos (born 1962 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian poet who lives in Toronto. Life Christakos was born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario. She is a Canadian poet, fiction author, literary essayist and creative writing instructor. Sinc ...

and Marty Gervais. She collaborated with

and Rachel Zolf for a polyvocal, multimedia staging of Christakos' polyvocal performance of Orphans Fan the Flames and Zolf's ''Masque''. In 2007, she founded the

visual poetry Visual poetry is a style of poetry that incorporates graphic and visual design elements to convey its meaning. This style combines visual art and written expression to create new ways of presenting and interpreting poetry. Visual poetry focuses on ...

website OtherCl/utter, a place to play with language and image. Sampirisi is the former Managing Editor of BookThug, where she also edited the Department of Narrative Studies imprint, focusing on innovative prose. She is co-founder and co-director of the Toronto New School of Writing, a series of reading and writing workshops designed and facilitated by working writers. The school has featured workshops and performances by Phil Hall,

Alice Notley Alice Elizabeth Notley (November 8, 1945 – May 19, 2025) was an American poet. Notley came to prominence as a member of the second generation of the New York School of poetry—although she always denied being involved with the New York Schoo ...

Anne Waldman Anne Waldman (born April 2, 1945) is an American poet. Since the 1960s, Waldman has been an active member of the Outrider experimental poetry community as a writer, performer, collaborator, professor, editor, scholar, and cultural/political acti ...

and Anslem Berrigan among others. Previously she was the Associate Director of the Scream Literary Festival, a festival of experimental poetry that was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1993 until 2011. Sampirisi teaches English Literature, Creative Writing and Composition at

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

(previously Ryerson University). There, she works in the Spanning the Gaps: Access to Post-Secondary Education program, and what was previously known as the Ryerson University Now (RUN) program. These programs were developed based on the belief that education can break cycles of inter-generational poverty and social exclusion, and admit students who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend university. In 2011 she was nominated for the Dean's Teaching Award for her work in these programs.

Awards

In 2011, Sampirisi was awarded the KM Hunter Artist Award for Literature. The annual award is given to Ontario residents who have completed their training, begun to produce a body of work and are starting to make a significant mark in their field.

Books

* ''Croak''. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2011. * ''is/was''. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2009.

References

External links

* Jenny Sampirisi's audio and video recordings
PennSoundCoach House Books

Jenny Sampirisi's Toronto New School of Writing

Jenny Sampirisi's Twitter feed

* Online Interviews with Jenny Sampirisi
Coach House BooksOpen Book TorontoToronto StandardFaded Paper Project

Canada Arts Connect
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sampirisi, Jenny 1981 births Living people 21st-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian women poets Canadian women novelists Poets from Toronto University of Windsor alumni Academic staff of Toronto Metropolitan University 21st-century Canadian women writers Novelists from Toronto