Lorri Neilsen Glenn is a
Canadian
Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
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 ...
, ethnographer, essayist and educator.
Born in Winnipeg (Treaty One), and raised on the Prairies, she moved to
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...
in 1983. Neilsen Glenn is the author and editor of several books of creative nonfiction, poetry, literacy, ethnography, and essays (scholarly and literary). She was Poet Laureate for
Halifax from 2005-2009, the first Métis to hold the position. Her writing focuses on women, arts-based research, and memoir/life stories; her work is known for its hybrid and lyrical approaches. She has published book reviews in national and international journals and newspapers. Neilsen Glenn has received awards for her poetry, creative nonfiction, teaching, scholarship and community work.
Neilsen Glenn is a Professor Emerita at
Mount Saint Vincent University
Mount Saint Vincent University, often referred to as the Mount, is a public, primarily undergraduate, university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was established in 1873. Mount Saint Vincent offers undergraduate Arts, Science, Edu ...
and has served as a mentor in the
University of King's College
The University of King's College is a public university, public Liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia.Roper, Henry. "Aspects of the History of a Loyalist College: King's College, Windsor, and ...
MFA program in creative nonfiction since the program's inception
Biography
Her first book of poetry, ''All the Perfect Disguises,'' winner of the Poet's Corner Award, was published in 2003. In 2007, a chapbook, ''Saved String'' (Rubicon Press) and the collection ''Combustion'' (
Brick Books) were published. Neilsen Glenn published 'Lost Gospels' (
Brick Books) in 2010. A collection of essays on poetry and loss, ''Threading Light'', was published in 2011 by
Hagios Press. The best-selling anthology of poetry and prose about mothers, "''Untying the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s''" was published in 2013 by Guernica Editions.
Neilsen Glenn was appointed
Poet Laureate for the
Halifax Regional Municipality
Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...
in 2005, a role she held through 2009.
[Writers' Union of Canada](_blank)
/ref> She lives in Halifax and has served as a juror for provincial, regional and national writing awards. Neilsen Glenn was President of the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia from 2020 to 2021 and has served several terms on the WFNS board. She was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal in 2023 for her work in the arts.
Neilsen Glenn' poetry has won or has been shortlisted for the National Magazine Awards, Poets' Corner Award, Short ''Grain'' Contest, CBC Literary Awards, Bliss Carman Poetry Award, CV2 Poetry Contest, The Malahat Open Season Award, ReLit Award, among others. Her creative nonfiction has won awards in Grain, Event Magazine, and Prairie Fire. Among her honours are awards for research excellence and innovative teaching (Mount Saint Vincent University) and a Halifax Progress Club Women of Excellence award for her work in the arts.
Neilsen Glenn has taught writing (poetry, creative nonfiction (memoir, the lyric essay, life writing) across Canada, as well as in Ireland, Australia, Chile, and Greece. She has worked extensively with writers in all walks of life since 1983.
Neilsen Glenn's historical memoir in hybrid form, ''Following the River: Traces of Red River Women,'' compiles portraits of her Indigenous grandmothers and their contemporaries in 19th Century Rupertsland / Red River, Manitoba and was published by Wolsak and Wynn in Fall 2017. It won The Miramichi Reader's Best Nonfiction Award for 2018 and was short-listed for the Evelyn Richardson Award for Nonfiction. Her 2024 memoir, ''The Old Moon in Her Arms: Women I Have Known and Been'' was published by Nimbus Publishing and explores a long life in short prose pieces.
Bibliography
* ''The Old Moon in Her Arms: Women I Have Known and Been '', Nimbus Publishing, 2024
* ''Following the River: Traces of Red River Women'', Wolsak and Wynn, 2017
* ''Untying the Apron: Daughters Remember Mothers of the 1950s'', Guernica Editions, 2013
* ''Salt Lines'' (Editor, with Carsten Knox), Backalong Books, 2012
* ''Threading Light'' the former Hagios Press,
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neilsen Glenn, Lorri
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
21st-century Canadian poets
Canadian women poets
21st-century Canadian women writers
Poets laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia