Stephanie Bolster’s first book, White Stone: The Alice
Poem, won the Governor General's Award and the Gerald Lampert Award in
1998 and appeared in French with Les Éditions du Noroît in autumn 2007,
translated by Daniel Canty. She has also published Two Bowls of Milk,
which won the Archibald Lampman Award and was shortlisted for the Trillium
Award, and Pavilion. Her work has appeared in literary journals and
anthologies internationally. She is the editor of The Ishtar Gate: Last
and Selected Poems (McGill-Queen’s) by the late Ottawa poet Diana Brebner
and is the guest editor for The Best Canadian Poetry in English 2007,
appearing from Tightrope Books in autumn 2008. She is also currently
editing an anthology of poetry and prose excerpts pertaining to zoos and
completing a collection due out in spring 2009. Raised in Burnaby, B.C.,
she has lived in Québec City and Ottawa and now lives in Pointe-Claire,
Québec. She teaches in the creative writing programme at Concordia
University in Montréal.
Awards
First Prize winner of The Antigonish Review’s Great Blue
Heron Poetry Competition, 2003
Archibald Lampman Award (best book of poetry published in the
National Capital region) for Two Bowls of Milk, 2000
Shortlisted for Trillium Award (best book published in Ontario) for
Two Bowls of Milk, 2000
Gerald Lampert Award for White Stone: The Alice Poems, 1999
Shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Award and the Ottawa-Carleton Book
Award for White Stone: The Alice Poems, 1999
Governor General’s Award for White Stone: The Alice Poems, 1999
First Prize winner of Mother Tongue Press’ Poetry Chapbook Contest
for “Inside a Tent of Skin: 9 poems from the National Gallery of Canada”, 1998
Governor General's Award for Poetry, 1998.
One of two winners of The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize, for “Deux
personnages dans la nuit: poems from paintings by Jean Paul Lemieux”, 1997
First Prize winner of Contemporary Verse 2 poetry competition for “Poems for the Flood”, 1997
Winner of Bronwen Wallace Award for Poetry, given bi-annually (in
alternate years, given for fiction) to the most promising Canadian poet
under 35 who has not yet published a first book, 1996
Poetry winner of the Norma Epstein Award for Creative Writing,
awarded by University College, University of Toronto, 1993
Norma Epstein Award for Creative Writing, 1993.
Selected Publications
Pavilion (McClelland & Stewart,
2002)
ISBN: 0-7710-1558-5
Two Bowls of Milk (McClelland & Stewart,
1999)
ISBN: 0-7710-1557-7
White Stone: The Alice Poems (Signal Editions (Vehicule Press),
1998)
ISBN: 1-55065-099-8
Past the Roman Arena and the Cedar of Lebanon (chapbook)
(Delirium Press,
2006)
Biodôme (above/ground press,
2006)
ISBN: 1-897224-06
Inside a Tent of Skin: 9 poems from the National Gallery of
Canada (chapbook) (Mother Tongue Press,
1998)
ISBN: 1-896949-08-8
Three Bloody Words (above/ground press,
1996)
ISBN: 0-9699636-2-9
Pierre Blanche: poèmes d’Alice (Les Éditions du Noroît,
2007)
ISBN: 978-2-89018-597-5
Selected Anthologies
Breathing Fire: Canada's New Poets. (Harbour Publishing, 1995).
A Room at the Heart of Things. (Vehicule, 1998).
We All Begin in a Little Magazine. (Arc, Carleton University Press, 1998).
The New Canon (Signal Editions (Vehicule Press),
2005,
ISBN: 1-55065-208-7
A New Anthology of Canadian Literature in English (Oxford University Press,
2002)
Short Fuse: The Global Anthology of Fusion Poetry (Rattapallax Press,
2002)
Books in Print
Bolster, Stephanie
Pavilion (McClelland & Stewart,
2002)
ISBN: 0-7710-1558-5, $16.99
Two Bowls of Milk (McClelland & Stewart,
1999)
ISBN: 0-7710-1557-7, $14.99
White Stone: The Alice Poems (Signal Editions (Vehicule Press),
1998)
ISBN: 1-55065-099-8, $12
Biodôme (above/ground press,
2006)
ISBN: 1-897224-06, $4
Inside a Tent of Skin: 9 poems from the National Gallery of
Canada (chapbook) (Mother Tongue Press,
1998)
ISBN: 1-896949-08-8, $55
Pierre Blanche: poèmes d’Alice (Les Éditions du Noroît,
2007)
ISBN: 978-2-89018-597-5, $19.95
Stephanie Bolster
sbolster@ca.inter.net
Poet in the School
(Ottawa)
phone: 613-747-9283
email: sbolster@ca.inter.net
Stephanie Bolster's first book, White Stone: the Alice Poems (Vehicule Press, 1998), explores Alice in (and out of) Wonderland and the real Alice Liddell who inspired her. Her Second, Two Bowls of Milk, is forthcoming from McClelland & Stewart in 1999. She has won the Bronwen Wallace Award (1996), The Malahat Review's long poem prize (1997), and Mother Tongue Press' national chapbook competition (1998). Her poetry has appeared in the anthology Breathing Fire: Canada's New Poets, on B.C. Transit, and in journals and anthologies internationally. She has given many poetry readings and also writes reviews, non-fiction, fiction, and children's literature. Bolster has an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from UBC and has given writing workshops to children, adolescents, and adults. She currently teaches poetry and journal writing with the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board.
Grade Levels: all
Fees: standard
Classroom Approach:
Bolster
encourages students to find inspiration and value in their own experiences and
interests, and above all, to enjoy reading and writing. In workshops, she offers
individual responses to all participants, balancing enthusiasm with constructive
criticism as appropriate to the student's age and ability. Students need not
be familiar with her work, though older groups may wish to look at White
Stone: The Alice Poems, which can be initiate a fruitful discussion of ëpoems
in character' and the poem series. Bolster can also read from her poems inspired
by visual art, then engage students in writing exercises involving art. Her
sessions are adaptable to class and instructor needs and interests -- she can
offer a basic "what is poetryî session, with examples from the work
of emerging and established poets; give a reading followed by a question-and-answer
session; facilitate workshops (based on writing submitted beforehand or on in-class
exercises); and/or instigate collaborative poems to involve even the most jaded
students.