Sandra Alland
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Sandra Alland (born April 17, 1973) is an Edinburgh-based Scottish-Canadian writer, multimedia artist, bookseller, small press publisher and activist. She has published two full-length collections of poetry, Proof of a Tongue (McGilligan Books, 2004) and Blissful Times (BookThug, 2007), and is currently working on a collection of short stories. Her work focuses on social justice, language, humour and experimental forms.
Alland's writing has also been published in many anthologies including, The State of the Arts: Living with Culture in Toronto (Coach House Books), radiant danse uv being: A Poetic Portrait of bill bissett (blewointment), Red Light: Superheroes, Saints, and Sluts (Arsenal Pulp Press), My Lump in the Bed: Love Poems for George W. Bush (Dwarf Puppets on Parade), and The Common Sky: Canadian Writers Against the War (Three Squares Press). She has published and presented her work in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Spain, Scotland, England and the U.S.
Besides being known for text-based work, Alland also has a reputation for innovative multimedia, performance poetry and sound poetry collaborations – including Other Me (Scream Festival, with Alejandra Perez-Gomez and Megan Somerville), Poetry Is Not a Luxury (Mayworks, with Karen Augustine and Anna Camilleri) and Strange Attractors (Hysteria, with Michelle Ramsay and Megan Somerville).
Alland's micropress, sandraslittlebookshop, has published four chapbooks, including the multi-authored, multilingual Broken Telephone/teléfono roto/au téléphone. She recently released Some Poems By People I Like an anthology of poetry featuring Chrystos, Naila Keleta Mae, Jorge Lara Rivera, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Andra Simons.
Alland has curated events for entities including Artscape's Queen West Art Crawl, This Ain't the Rosedale Library, The Theatre Centre and Word Power Books, and co-created Canada's first ever Silent Slam (a live, projected writing competition). Along with Hamish MacDonald, she runs the Edinburgh series Who's Your Dandy?, an evening featuring queer and trans writers and musicians.
Alland is dedicated to the survival of independent artists and arts organizations. She also works at Word Power Books and occasionally writes for Xtra!. Her short stories can be found in This Magazine, Broken Pencil, dig and other independent publications.
[edit] Works
- The Mathematics of Love. Toronto: 13the Tiger Press, 2000.
- Proof of a Tongue. Toronto: McGilligan, 2004.
- Blissful Times. Toronto: BookThug, 2007.
