Sandra Alland

Sandra Alland (born April 17, 1973) is an Edinburgh Scottish-Canadian writer, interdisciplinary artist, small press publisher, performer^[1] and filmmaker. She has published two collections of poetry, Proof of a Tongue (McGilligan Books, 2004) and Blissful Times (BookThug, 2007). In 2009, Edinburgh's Forest Publications published a chapbook of her short stories, Here's to Wang. Her chapbook of poetry, Naturally Speaking, a meditation on disability poetics and gender, was published in 2012 by Toronto's espresso.^[2] Alland's work focuses on social justice, language, humour and experimental forms.

In a four-star performance review in December 2007, Edinburgh's The Skinny said: "This is not My Coming Out Poem of Pain, this is Sandra Alland's brilliant Beckett cut-ups...The images come so fast you sometimes feel like a Slinky falling down the stairs, yet the emotion and intention are clear, moving, and often funny."^[3] In spring 2009, Glasgow's Lock Up Your Daughters magazine said: "Reminiscent of Miranda July and complemented by a deadpan delivery, Alland's words are at once both drolly funny and sweetly strange."

Alland's writing has been published internationally in 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), "Can't Lit: Fearless Fiction from Broken Pencil Magazine, and Poems For Pussy Riot (PEN International). Alland's poems and short stories can be found in such publications as This Magazine, Broken Pencil, dig, anything anymore anywhere, Gutter and Chroma. In 2012, she edited a feature on Scottish poetry for Jacket2.

Besides text, Alland works in multimedia, film, performance poetry and sound poetry. She collaborated with the poetry-music-video fusion group, Zorras, from 2007-2013. In autumn 2009, Scotland's ultimatemetal.com said of her work with Zorras: "A very unique mix of poetry, music, stories and just plain weird. The poetry was sharp and funny, the placement effective, the visuals fitting; a rather unforgettable experience, I highly recommend checking them out to anyone looking for something different."^[4]

In Canada, Alland has featured at series including Impossible Words, AvantGarden, Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, Contact Photography Festival, the Ottawa International Writers' Festival, LabCab Festival (Factory Theatre) and Hillside Festival. In the UK, she has performed at such places as Edinburgh International Book Festival, Museum of London, Soho Theatre, The Oxford Playhouse, Queer Mutiny, Aye Write!, The Arches (Glasgow), Edinburgh and London Ladyfest, Street Level Gallery, The Forest (social centre) and Unity Theatre, Liverpool.

Alland's visual art and videos were on display at Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art and mac (Birmingham), during 2009-10 and 2011 respectively. Her films have screened internationally, including at Tate Modern, Macrobert, Entzaubert Festival (Berlin), Fringe! (London) and MIX Copenhagen.

Alland has curated events for entities including Artscape's Queen West Art Crawl, This Ain't the Rosedale Library, Toronto Women's Bookstore, and The Theatre Centre, and co-created Canada's first ever Silent Slam (a live, projected writing competition). She founded and curates the Edinburgh cabaret Cachín Cachán Cachunga!, a multimedia event featuring queer and trans artists.^[5] She is also a founding member of b)other, a Scottish collective of LGBTI Deaf and Disabled artists.

Background

Sandra Alland grew up in Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto, Canada. She was raised by a Scottish immigrant father and grandfather, and a mother of French-Canadian descent. Alland completed undergraduate studies in Drama at the University of Toronto, graduating with high distinction in 2000.

Alland began publishing and performing her work in Toronto in 1995. From 1995-1997, she was part of the performance poetry band, Stumblin' Tongues, with Bermudian poet Andra Simons and musicians Garth and Grant Kien. Alland worked extensively in Toronto's theatre, literary and visual art communities until she relocated to Scotland in 2007.

Works

Books

• The Mathematics of Love. Toronto: 13th Tiger Press, 2000.
• Proof of a Tongue. Toronto: McGilligan, 2004.
• Blissful Times. Toronto: BookThug, 2007.
• Here's to Wang. Edinburgh: Forest Publications, 2009.
• Naturally Speaking. Toronto: espresso, 2012.

Performance Works

• "The Man" (2000) (Waterspout Theatre, Bermuda)
• "Body Geometry: A Good Night Out" (2002)(The Theatre Centre, Toronto)
• "Seeing Each Other" (2002) (with Heather Lash, New York Fringe, New York)
• "Poetry Is Not A Luxury" (2005) (with Anna Camilleri & Karen Miranda Augustine, Mayworks Festival, Toronto)
• "Other Me" (2005) (with Alejandra Perez-Gomez, Scream Festival, Toronto)
• "Found In Translation" (2009) (Soho Theatre, produced by Oxford Playhouse, London)
• "The Eruption of Kilauea and Other Treasures" (2009) (Screen Bandita, Filmhouse & Scottish Documentary Institute, Edinburgh)

Albums

• "We Apologise For Any Inconvenience" (2009) (with Zorras, Minor Assault Records)
• "Doctor Says" (2012) (with Zorras, Minor Assault Records)

Exhibitions and Screenings

• "Play" (2002) (Pteros Gallery/Contact Photography Festival, Toronto)
• "A Spot of b)other" (2009–10) (Glasgow Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow)
• "A Spot of b)other" (2011) (Midlands Arts Centre, Birmingham)
• "After Going Out" (2012) (Tate Modern, Tracey Moberly's Tweet Me Up, London)
• "Trans Homo" (2012) (with Justin Time, Schwules Museum, Berlin)
• "I'm Not Your Inspiration" (2013) (macrobert, Stirling)

References

External links

• Blissful Times the homepage of Sandra Alland
• Here's to Wang @ ForPub.com