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Shadow Blight

By (author): Annick MacAskill

Shadow Blight considers the pain and isolation of pregnancy loss through the lens of classical myth. Drawing on the stories of Niobe—whose monumental suffering at the loss of her children literally turned her to stone—and others, this collection explores the experience of being swept away by grief and silenced by the world. Skirting the tropes (“o how beautiful / the poets make our catastrophes”), MacAskill interweaves the ancient with the contemporary in a way that opens possibilities and offers a new language for those “shut up in stillness.”

AUTHOR

Annick MacAskill

Annick MacAskill is the author of four books of poetry, including Shadow Blight (Gaspereau Press, 2022), winner of the Governor General’s Award and shortlisted for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award, and Votive (Gaspereau Press, 2024), which was shortlisted for the Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award and the J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award. Her chapbooks include  five from hem (Gap Riot Press, 2024), a finalist for the bpNichol Chapbook Award, and Verfondre/Wormmelt (Baseline Press, 2026). MacAskill’s poems have appeared in journals across Canada and abroad and in the Best Canadian Poetry anthology series. MacAskill is a member of Room Magazine’s Growing Room Collective and the founder and publisher of Opaat Press. She lives in Kjipuktuk (Halifax, Nova Scotia), on the traditional and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq.


Reviews

Shadow Blight considers the pain and isolation of pregnancy loss through the lens of classical myth. Drawing on the stories of Niobe—whose monumental suffering at the loss of her children literally turned her to stone—and others, this collection explores the experience of being swept away by grief and silenced by the world. Skirting the tropes (“o how beautiful / the poets make our catastrophes”), MacAskill interweaves the ancient with the contemporary in a way that opens possibilities and offers a new language for those “shut up in stillness.”



This rare achievement combines formal mastery with honesty and vulnerability. —Jury citation, Governor General’s Award for Poetry

Awards

  • Governor General’s Award for Poetry 2022, Winner
  • Pat Lowther Award 2023, Short-listed
  • J.M. Abraham Atlantic Poetry Award 2023, Short-listed
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    Details

    Dimensions:

    64 Pages
    8.5in * 5.5in * 0.3in
    150gr

    Published:

    July 01, 2022

    City of Publication:

    Sackville

    Country of Publication:

    CA

    ISBN:

    9781554472383

    Book Subjects:

    POETRY / Canadian

    Language:

    eng

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    Other books by Annick MacAskill

    Votive

    By (author): Annick MacAskill