Ruth Elizabeth Borson, who writes under the name Roo Borson (born January 20, 1952, in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Anglo-Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland, Cali ...

) is a Canadian poet who lives 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 ...

. After undergraduate studies at

UC Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined ...

and

Goddard College Goddard College was a Private college, private college with three locations in the United States: Plainfield, Vermont; Port Townsend, Washington; and Seattle. The college offered undergraduate and graduate degree programs. With predecessor ins ...

, she received an MFA from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. She has received many awards for her work, including the

Governor General's Literary Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

, 2004, and 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 ...

, 2005 for Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida. She currently lives in Toronto with poet Kim Maltman, and with Kim Maltman and Andy Patton is a member of the

collaborative Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. The f ...

performance poetry ensemble Pain Not Bread.

Works

*''Landfall'' (1977), *''Rain'' (1980), *''In the Smoky Light of the Fields'' (1980), *''A Sad Device'' (1981), *''The Whole Night, Coming Home'' (1984), (nominated for a

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

) *''The Transparence of November / Snow'' (1985), (with Kim Maltman) *''Intent, or, The Weight of the World'' (1989), *''Night Walk'' (1994), (nominated for a

) *''Water Memory'' (1996), *''Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei'' (2000), (by Pain Not Bread) *''Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida'' (2004), (winner of the 2004 Governor General's Award, the 2005 Canadian

and the 2005 Pat Lowther Award) *''Personal History'' (2008) *''Rain; road; an open boat'' (2012), *''Box Kite: Prose Poems by Baziju'' (2016), (with Kim Maltman) *''Cardinal in the Eastern White Cedar'' (2017),

References

External links

Griffin Poetry Prize biography

Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip

"Summer Grass" from ''Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida'', online at CBC Words at LargeRoo Borson's
entry in

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

* Canadian Poetry Online: Roo Borson – Biography and 6 poems (Camouflage, Ten Thousand, Loyalties, Summer's Drug, Save Us From, Leaving the Island) * Archives of Roo Borso
(Roo Borson and Kim Maltman fonds, (R12759)
are held at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borson, Roo 1952 births Living people Canadian women poets Governor General's Award–winning poets Writers from Berkeley, California University of British Columbia alumni Poets from Toronto 20th-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian women writers Pseudonymous women writers 20th-century pseudonymous writers 21st-century pseudonymous writers