Susan Gillis 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 editor. Her collections of poetry include ''Swimming Among the Ruins'', shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and 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 ...

; ''Volta'', winner of the

Quebec Writers' Federation The Quebec Writers’ Federation (QWF) is a not-for-profit registered charitable organization representing and serving the English-language literary community in the province of Quebec, Canada. QWF is a literary arts presenter, provides profession ...

A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry; ''The Rapids'', a finalist for the

A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry, and ''Yellow Crane'', a Jury Selection in the Grand prix du livre de Montreal and a finalist for the ASLE Creative Writing Book Award. ''Arc Poetry Magazine'' has called Gillis "a formidable poet." In her review of ''Yellow Crane'', Laura Ritland writes that "Gillis's poetry stands between the making of meaning (its "construction") and the unravelling or uncertainty of stable meaning (its "debris")." Gillis is a founding member of the collaborative

renku , or , is a Japanese form of popular collaborative linked verse poetry. It is a development of the older Japanese poetic tradition of ''ushin'' renga, or orthodox collaborative linked verse. At renku gatherings participating poets take turns prov ...

poetry collective Yoko's Dogs, with poets Jan Conn, Mary di Michele and Jane Munro. As host/curator of Concrete & River, she has interviewed and published the work of poets Gjertrud Schnackenberg, Mary Jo Salter, Sue Goyette, Sadiqa de Meijer, Sarah Venart, and many others. With di Michele, Gillis curates the online micro-poetry journal HALIBUT.https://halibuthaiku.blogspot.com/ She taught in the Department of English at

John Abbott College John Abbott College ( French: ''Collège John Abbott)'' is an English-language public college located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada, near the western tip of the Island of Montreal. John Abbott College is one of eight English publ ...

Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue () is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburb located at the western tip of the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is the second oldest community in Montreal's West Island, having been founded as a parish ...

, Quebec, from 2002 until 2019. She continues to work as a freelance editor and mentor. Born in

Halifax, Nova Scotia 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 ...

, Gillis lived in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

until 2019. Then she divided her time between

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

and (until 2006) Corner Brook, NL and (from 2007) the country near

Perth, Ontario Perth is a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada. It is located on the Tay River (Ontario), Tay River, southwest of Ottawa, and is the seat of Lanark County. History The town was established as a military settlement in 1816, shortly after the War of ...

, where she lives with her husband, the poet and novelist John Steffler.

Bibliography

*''Swimming Among the Ruins'' (Signature Editions, 2000) *''Volta'' (Signature Editions, 2002) *''Twenty Views of the Lachine Rapids''(Gaspereau Press, 2012) *''The Rapids'' (Brick Books, 2012) *''Obelisk'' (Gaspereau Press, 2017) *''Yellow Crane'' (Brick Books, 2018) *''Whisk'' (with Yoko's Dogs; Pedlar Press, 2013) *''Rhinoceros''(with Yoko's Dogs; Gaspereau Press, 2016)

References

External links

Susan Gillis
Concrete & River

QWF Literary Database of Quebec English-language authors: Susan Gillis

HALIBUT Living people Canadian women poets Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian women writers Poets from Halifax, Nova Scotia {{Canada-poet-stub