Charm

Winner of the 2018 Archibald Lampman Award

A charm can protect, inflict or influence. Charm, the second collection by poet Christine McNair, considers the craftwork of conception from a variety of viewpoints–from pregnancy and motherhood, to how an orchid is pollinated, to overcoming abusive relationships, to the manual artistry of carving a violin bow or marbling endpapers.

Through these poems, McNair’s poetic line evolves as if moving in a spellbound kaleidoscope, etched with omens, fairytales, intimacy’s stickiness, and the mothering body.

AUTHOR

Christine McNair

Christine McNair was born on June 6, 1978, (the sixth day of the sixth month at six-fifty-six.) She completed a BA (Hons) from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, with a major in English Literature and a minor in Art History. She also completed a Master’s degree in Conservation Studies (Books and Library Materials) at West Dean College in the UK. Besides being a writer, McNair works full time at the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa, in a special agency of the Department of Heritage, as a book “doctor” or Conservator. Conflict is her first book.