Susan McCaslin
| Susan Elizabeth McCaslin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 3 June 1947 |
| Occupation | Author, academic poet |
Susan Elizabeth McCaslin was born June 3, 1947, and is a Canadian poet who lives in Fort Langley, British Columbia. She taught English and Creative Writing at Douglas College in New Westminster and Coquitlam, British Columbia from 1984 to 2007. She is a retired Faculty Emerita who has authored ten volumes of poetry. Her work has appeared in literary magazines and journals throughout Canada, as well as in the United States and the UK. Her most recent volume, Demeter Goes Skydiving (University of Alberta Press, 2011), was shortlisted for the BC Book Prize and the winner of the Alberta Book Publishing Award for 2012. She is an essayist, reviewer, editor of poetry anthologies, children’s author, and creative non-fiction writer.
Education
- B.A. in English, University of Washington, 1969
- M.A. in English (thesis: Edgar Allan Poe), Simon Fraser University, 1973
- Ph.D. in English (dissertation: Vernon Watkins), University of British Columbia, 1984
Works
Poetry
Locutions. Victoria, B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 1995.
Light Housekeeping. Victoria, B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 1997. http://www.ekstasiseditions.com/
Veil/Unveil. Toronto: The Saint Thomas Poetry Series, 1997.
Flying Wounded. Gainesville, Florida: The University Press of Florida, 2000. http://upf.com/searchresult.asp?searchterm=flying+wounded&searchtype=title
The Altering Eye. Ottawa, Ontario: Borealis Press, 2000.
Common Longing: The Teresa Poems and A Canticle for Mary and Martha. New York: Mellen Poetry Press, 2001. http://mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?aid=107&pc=10
At the Mercy Seat. Vancouver, B.C.: Ronsdale Press, 2003. http://ronsdalepress.com/books/at-the-mercy-seat/ http://ronsdalepress.com/authors/susan-mccaslin/
A Plot of Light. Lantzville, B.C.: Oolichan Books, 2004. http://www.oolichan.com/authors
Lifting the Stone. Hamilton, Ontario: Seraphim Editions, Oct. 2007. http://www.seraphimeditions.com/susan-mccaslin.html
Demeter Goes Skydiving. University of Alberta Press, 2011. http://www.uap.ualberta.ca/UAP.asp?lid=41&bookid=1395 http://www.seraphimeditions.com/susan-mccaslin.html
Non-Fiction
Arousing the Spirit: Provocative Writings. Kelowna, British Columbia: Copperhouse, an imprint of Wood Lake Books, 2011. http://www.woodlakebooks.com/search/find/title:mccaslin http://essential-spirituality.com/
Chapbooks (selected)
Letters to William Blake. Salt Spring Island: Mother Tongue Press, 1997. First-place winner of the Mother Tongue Chapbook competition for 1997, judged by P.K. Page. http://mothertonguepublishing.com/?page_id=738
Oracular Heart. The Hawthorne Poetry Series. Victoria, B.C.: Reference West, 1999.
Persephone Tours the Underground. Ed. David Zieroth. North Vancouver: The Alfred Gustav Press, 2009. http://www3.telus.net/dzieroth/alfredgustav.html
Children’s Book
Thinking About God.
Mystic, Connecticut: Twenty-Third Publications, 1994.
Editor of Poetry Anthologies
A Matter of Spirit: Recovery of the Sacred in Contemporary Canadian Poetry. Victoria, B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 1998. http://www.ekstasiseditions.com/
Poetry and Spiritual Practice: Selections from Contemporary Canadian Poets. Toronto: The St. Thomas Poetry Series, 2002.
Literary Awards (selected)
The Burnaby Writers’ Society Annual Poetry Contest, Oct. 1995, first place winner.
Mother Tongue Press’s Annual Chapbook Competition, 1997, for "Letters to William Blake." (judged by P.K. Page)
Burnaby Writers’ Society Poetry Competition, 2005, first place winner.
The second annual poetry contest sponsored by Presence: an International Journal of Spiritual Direction, grand prize poetry winner, 2006.
First place winner in the 18th Annual Literary Writes Poetry Competition of the Federation of BC Writers, 2006.
Finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Award (BC Book Prize, 2012) for Demeter Goes Skydiving (University of Alberta Press, 2011).
Alberta Book Publishing Award (The Robert Kroetsch Poetry Award) for Demeter Goes Skydiving (University of Alberta Press), 2012.
Represented in Poetry Anthologies (selected)
The Wilderness Anthology. Eds. John Harley and Jay Ruzesky. Victoria: B.C.: Outlaw Editions, 1999.
Waiting for You to Speak: the Winning Poems of the 1998 Sandburg-Livesay Anthology Contest. Pittsburg: Unfinished Monument Press, 1998. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfinished_Monument_Press
No Choice but to Trust: the Sandburg-Livesay Anthology. Pittsburg: Unfinished Monument Press, 2000, 96. Finalist in The Sandburg-Livesay Poetry Contest, 2000. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unfinished_Monument_Press
Running Barefoot: Women Write the Land. Ed. Wyne Edwards and Dianne Linden. Edmonton, Alberta: Rowan Books, 2001.
Mocombo Nights: Poetry from the Mocombo Reading Series. Ed. Patrick Lane. Victoria, B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 2001. http://www.ekstasiseditions.com/
The Other Eye. Ed. Allan Brown. Desolation Sound, B.C.: Far Field Press, 2002. http://powellrivermuseum.ca/research/MuseumFonds/Fonds/FarFieldPress.html
Swimming in the Ocean at Night. Lantzville, B.C.: Leaf Press, 2003.
Body and Soul: An Anthology of Poems and Essays. Pennsylvania, Morehouse Publishing, 2004.
Writing the Sacred: A Psalm-Inspired Path to Appreciating and Writing Sacred Poetry. Ed. Ray McGinnis. Kelowna, B.C.: Northstone Publishing, 2005. http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Sacred-Psalm-inspired-Appreciating-Poetry/dp/1896836739
In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry. Ed. Kate Braid and Sandy Shreve. Preface P.K. Page. Vancouver, B.C.: Polestar Press, 2005. http://www.katebraid.com/in-fine-form/
Poetry as Liturgy: An Anthology by Canadian Poets. Ed. Margo Swiss. Toronto: The St. Thomas Poetry Series, 2007. http://www.stthomaspoetryseries.com/The_St._Thomas_Poetry_Series/Biographies_%26_Reviews/Biographies_%26_Reviews.html
Arms Like Ladders: the Eloquent She, Poems from the Feminist Caucus. Ed. Katerina Fretwell. Living Archives of the Feminist Caucus. League of Canadian Poets, 2007. http://poets.ca/wordpress/programs-2/feminist-caucus/
Ascent Aspirations Magazine: Anthology Five (Poetry Issue). Ed. David Foster. Nanoose, Bay, British Columbia. 2008.
Crossing Lines: Poets who Came to Canada in the Vietnam Era. Ed. Allan Briesmaster and Steven Michael Berzensky. Toronto: Seraphim Editions, 2008. http://www.seraphimeditions.com/crossing-lines.html
Rocksalt: An Anthology of Contemporary BC Poetry. Ed. Mona Fertig and Harold Rhenisch, eds. Salt Spring Island, B.C.: Mother Tongue Press, 2008. http://mothertonguepublishing.com/?page_id=101
Close to Quitting Time: An Anthology Celebrating Work. Ed. David Fraser. Nanoose Bay, BC: Ascent Aspirations Publishing, 2011.
The Wild Weathers: a gathering of love poems. Ed. Ursula Vaira. Lantzville, B.C.: Leaf Press, 2012.
Hidden Lives: Coming Out on Mental Illness. “Flying Wounded.” Ed. Lenore Rowntree and Andrew Boden. Foreword by Gabor Mate. Brindle & Glass, Canada, 2012. http://www.brindleandglass.com/book_details.php?isbn_upc=9781926972961
Desperately Seeking Susans. Ed. Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang. Fernie, BC: Oolichan Books, 2012.
Force Field: 75 women poets of British Columbia. Ed. Susan Musgrave. Salt Spring Island, British Columbia: Mother Tongue Publishing, 2013. http://www.oolichan.com/tsiang-desperately-seeking-susans
Poet to Poet: Poems written to poets and the stories that inspired them. Ed. Julie Roorda and Elana Wolff. Toronto: Guernica Editions, 2012. http://www.guernicaeditions.com/title.php?id=9781550716450
Poems from Planet Earth. Ed. Yvonne Blomer and Cynthia Woodman Kerkham. Introd. Patrick Lane. Lantzville, BC: Leaf Press, 2013. http://leafpress.ca/Poems-from-Planet-Earth/Poems-from-Planet-Earth.htm
Alive at the Center: Contemporary Poems from the Pacific Northwest. Pacific Poetry Project. Ed. Bonnie Nish, Daniela Elza, & Robert Susanto. Portland, Oregon: Portland State University, Ooligan Press, 2013. http://ooligan.pdx.edu/poetry/alive-at-the-center/alive-at-the-center-bios/
Force Field: 77 women poets of British Columbia. Ed. Susan Musgrave. Salt Spring Island, British Columbia: Mother Tongue Publishing, 2013. http://mothertonguepublishing.com/?page_id=886
Reviews (selected)
Letters to William Blake reviewed by Beryl Baigent in Prairie Fire, Vol. 19, No. 2 (Summer 1998), 197-198.
Letters to William Blake reviewed by Sherrill Chada in Canadian Woman Studies, Vol. 1, Nos. 2 & 3 (Fall 1998), 163.
"Reconstructing the Tradition: Blodgett, Dembowski, Jones and McCaslin,” a review of Veil/Unveil (The St. Thomas Poetry Series, 1997), reviewed by Harold Rhenisch in Arc: Canada's National Poetry Magazine, No 42 (Spring 1999), 79-85.
Letters to William Blake reviewed by Allan Brown, Minus Tides, Vol. 11, No 1 (Summer 1999).
"Poetry and Prayer Intertwine in Iconoclastic Spiritual Quests," a review of A Matter of Spirit by Douglas Todd in The Vancouver Sun, Sat. Oct. 30, 1999: A 19.
“The Edge of the Ineffable,” a review of A Matter of Spirit by Miranda Pearson in Event, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Spring 2000), 96-102.
The Altering Eye reviewed by Gary Geddes in B.C. Bookworld (Summer Issue, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2001), 38.
Flying Wounded reviewed by Sharon McCartney in The Malahat Review, No. 137 (Winter 2001), 115-117.
“At Home and Left Behind,” a review of The Altering Eye (Borealis Press) and Flying Wounded (University Press of Florida) by Nicole Markotic in Canadian Literature (2003).
“Three Generations of B.C. Poets,” a review of At the Mercy Seat, reviewed by Robert Attridge in Event. Vol. No. 32, No. 3 (2003–2004), 107-108.
At the Mercy Seat, reviewed by Candace Ferhle in Room of One’s Own, Vol. 27, No 4 (2004), 93-95.
At the Mercy Seat, reviewed by Lynn Szabo in Canadian Book Review Annual, article A 13925727, 2004.
“Body, Mind, and Spirit,” a review of At the Mercy Seat, by Neil Querengesser in Canadian Literature, 187 (Winter 2005), 151-152.
A Plot of Light reviewed by J. S. Porter in Hammered Out # 8, Hamilton, ON. (Winter/Spring 2006), 53.
A Plot of Light reviewed by Lynn R. Szabo in The Canadian Book Review Annual (Fall 2006).
A Plot of Light reviewed by Anne E. Walker in Canadian Literature (Summer 2007), 131-132.
“A Cultivated Perception,” a review of A Plot of Light by M. Travis Lane in The Fiddlehead. No. 231 (Spring 2007), 101-104.
Lifting the Stone reviewed by Beryl Baigent in Room: A Space of Your Own. Vol. 31.2 (Spring 2008), 101-103.
Todd, Douglas, on Arousing the Spirit: Provocative Writings for The Vancouver Sun, “Ahhh, to be perfect,” July 12, 2008. http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2008/07/12/ahhh-to-be-perfect/
Querengesser, Neil. “The Sacramental Poetry of Susan McCaslin,” in Canadian Poetry: Studies/ Documents/ Reviews, No.67 (Fall/Winter 2010): 104-115.
Todd, Douglas, on Arousing the Spirit: Provocative Writings for The Vancouver Sun, “Battling Gospel writers: John versus Thomas, Dec. 14, 2011. http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2011/12/14/battling-gospel-writers-john-versus-thomas/
A review of Demeter Goes Skydiving in Prairie Books Now, Summer 2011.
A review of Demeter Goes Skydiving in The Indextrious Reader, Sept. 24, 2011 http://indextrious.blogspot.com/2011/09/demeter-goes-skydiving.html]
“A Modern Myth: Mysteries and Mystics” by Michael Higgins, a review of Demeter Goes Skydiving in The Telegraph Journal (April 7, 2012), Salon Books, S6.
A review of Demeter Goes Skydiving by Yvonne Blomer in The Pacific Rim Review of Books, Victoria, BC, Issue 16, Vol. 8, No. 1 (Spring 2012), 17.
Board of Directors
Member of the Board of Directors of Event magazine, 2006–present.
Former member of the Board of Directors of the Thomas Merton Society of Canada, 2001-2003.
Poetry Consultant
Poetry consultant for The Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion (Harvard Divinity School), 2005–present.
Essays, Articles, and Critical Writings (selected)
"Eureka: Poe's Cosmogonic Poem," Salzburg Studies in English Literature, ed. James Hogg, Romantic Reassessment 87: 4 (Salzburg: Institut Fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universitat Salzburg, 1982), 38-51.
"The Sense of the Metaphysical in the Poetry of Vernon Watkins," and "The Baptism of the Bardic Spirit: An Examination of Watkins' Taliesin Poems," Salzburg Studies in English Literature, ed. James Hogg, No. 27, Fourth Series (Salzburg: Institut fur Anglistik und Amerikanistik, Universitat Salzburg, 1982), 3-37 and 38-51.
"Vision and Revision in Four Quartets: T. S. Eliot and Julian of Norwich," Mystics Quarterly, Vol. 12, No. 4 (Dec. 1986), 171-178.
"Ascesis/Ekstasis: Poetry and Religious Tradition in Canada," in Event, Vol. 23, No. 3 (Douglas College, Winter '94-'95), 127-132.
"The Quick and the Dead: Interwoven Realities," in Event, Vol. 24, No. 3 (Douglas College, Winter 1995-'96), 133-139.
“Blake and Thomas Merton: the Heretic Within and the Heretic Without,” in The Merton Annual, Ed. Victor Kramer, Vol. 14 (Trowbridge, Wiltshire: The Cromwell Press, 2001), 173-183.
“Merton and ‘Hagia Sophia’ (Holy Wisdom’) in Merton and Hesychasm: the Prayer of the Heart. Ed. Bernadette Kicker and Jonathan Montaldo. Louisville, Kentucky: Fons Vitae Press, 2003), 235-254.
“The Feral Muse: An Infused (BeMused) Poetics,” in Inviting the Incubus, Kissing the Succubi: the Muse in Canadian Women’s Poetry. Living Archives of the Feminist Caucus. Toronto: The League of Canadian Poets, 2005. http://poets.ca/wordpress/programs-2/feminist-caucus/
“Give the Afterlife Another Chance: Taking a New Look at Heaven and Earth,” in The United Church Observer. (Oct. 2006), 12-13.
“Transforming the Shadow,” in The United Church Observer. (June 2007), 17-18.
“Countering War with Wonder: Poetry and Peace in the Visionary Poetics of William Blake.” The Pacific Rim Review of Books. Issue 8: Spring 2008 (ISSM 1715-3700), 35-37. http://www.prrb.ca/issue_html/issue08_contents.html
“The Problem with Perfect,” in The United Church Observer. Ed. David Wilson. Vol. 71, No. 11 (June 2008), 14-15. http://www.ucobserver.org/faith/2008/06/perfectionism/
“Pivoting Toward Peace: the Engaged Poetics of Thomas Merton and Denise Levertov,” in The Pacific Rim Review of Books. Victoria, B.C. Issue 10: Fall/Winter 2009, 14-15, 30-31. http://www.prrb.ca/articles/issue10-mccaslin.html
“Transformative Solitudes: Merton and Rilke at the Pivot of Silence, in The Merton Seasonal. Vol. 35, No. 1 (Spring 2010), 15-24 & 46-47. http://merton.org/ITMS/Seasonal/seasonal2010.aspx
“Pivoting Toward Peace: the Engaged Poetics of Thomas Merton and Denise Levertov.” The Merton Annual. Fons Vitae. Vol. 22 (2009), 189-203. http://www.prrb.ca/articles/issue10-mccaslin.html
“Facing the Environmental Crisis with Contemplative Attention,” in Making Waves: BC and Pacific Northwest Literature. Ed. Trevor Carolan. Vancouver and Abbotsford, BC: Anvil Press and University of the Fraser Valley Press, 2010, 117-142. http://www.anvilpress.com/Books/making-waves-reading-bc-and-pacific-northwest-literature
“Rapturous Ravishments in the Song of Songs,” in Room: A Space of Your Own. Ed. Clelie Rich. Vol. 33.4, All of Us Sacred (2010), 47-55.
“Pivoting Toward Peace: the Engaged Poetics of Thomas Merton and Denise Levertov.” Along the Rim: the Best of Pacific Rim Review of Books. Vol. 2. Ed. Trevor Carolan & Richard Olafson. Introd. By Paul E. Nelson. Victoria, B.C.: Ekstasis Editions, 2010, 41-58.
“Earthy Epiphanies,” in Epiphanies,a chapbook published for the Living Archives of the Feminist Caucus for The League of Canadian Poets, 2012, 29-37.
“Earthy Epiphanies,” in Epiphanies, a chapbook published for the Living Archives of the Feminist Caucus, The League of Canadian Poets, 2012. http://poets.ca/wordpress/programs-2/feminist-caucus/
“Merton’s Mystical Visions: A Widening Circle,” and “Afterword,” in Thomas Merton: Monk on the Edge. Ed. Ross Labrie and Angus Stuart. Vancouver: Thomas Merton Society of Canada, 2012, 23-44 & 191-195.
“Art and Activism: How an ancient poet inspired a local initiative to preserve McLellan Forest,” photos by Erin Perry, in Common Ground (March 2013). http://commonground.ca/2013/03/art-activism/
“The Han Shan Poetry Project: Poetry Matters,” in Sage-ing with Creative Spirit, Grace & Gratitude: A Journal of Arts and Ageing. Ed Karen Close and Carolyn Cowan. Okanagan Institute (No. 7, Spring 2013), 39. http://www.sageing.ca/sageing7.html
“The Han Shan Poetry Project: How Poetry Came to Save a Forest,” Ooligan Press blogspog (Portland, Oregon: Ooligan Press) http://ooligan.pdx.edu/susan-mccaslin-guest-poet-post-the-han-shan-poetry-project-how-poetry-came-to-save-a-rainforest/
Reviews of Others: (selected)
"Love and Terror," Review of Diana Brebner's Radiant Life Forms in Event, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Douglas College, Fall 1991), 140-144.
"Mythopoetic Revival: Robin Blaser's The Holy Forest in Event, Vol. 23, No. 1 (Douglas College, Spring 1994), 115-117.
“A Review of Tim Lilburn’s To the River” in The Malahat Review, No. 131 (Summer 2000), 110-112.
"Salient Rose: the Mystical Peerings of Doyali Farah Islam," Susan McCaslin’s review of Doyali Farah Islam’s Yusuf and the Lotus Flower (Ottawa: BuschekBooks, 2011), League of Canadian Poets, reviews page: here
Blogs for Wood Lake Publishing
http://essential-spirituality.com/category/susan-mccaslin/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2011/12/13/a-perfect-christmas-quandary/#comments
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/01/19/the-truth-is-laughter/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/02/22/addicted-to-unhooking/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/04/04/quarky-quanta-and-singing-strings/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/05/05/cross-media-creativity/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/07/11/sexuality-and-the-song-of-songs/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/08/12/holy-presence-is-being-in-the-now-enough/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/09/26/the-wars-against-the-self/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/10/17/art-and-activism/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2012/11/22/peaceful-resisters/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2013/01/14/awakening-the-peaceful-beast-within/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2013/01/31/morning-meditation/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2013/04/24/arts-and-activism/
http://essential-spirituality.com/2013/06/19/honouring-our-mentors/
Memberships in Professional Organizations
Thomas Merton Society of Canada, 2000–present. http://www.merton.ca/
Federation of B.C. Writers, 1985–present.
League of Canadian Poets, 1985–present http://poets.ca/members_data/Susan%20McCaslin
Writers' Union of Canada, 1995–present http://www.writersunion.ca/member/susan-mccaslin
The Creative Nonfiction Collective 2011–present. http://www.creativenonfictioncollective.com/
Poems Published in Literary Journals (selected)
White Wall Review, Scrivener, Carleton Arts Review, Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, Canadian Woman Studies, Descant, Contemporary Verse 2, Grain, The New Quarterly, The Antigonish Review, The Wascana Review, Queen’s Quarterly, Room: a space of one’s own, The Prairie Journal, Zygote, Jones AV, Tickled by Thunder, Prism International, Canadian Literature, Gaspereau Review, Fiddlehead, The Windsor Review, and Vallum.