Nicole Brossard, Margaret Christakos, Susan Holbrook, Dorothy Trujillo Lusk, Karen Mac Cormack, Daphne Marlatt, Erín Moure, M. NourbeSe Philip, Sina Queyras, Lisa Robertson, Gail Scott, Nathalie Stephens, Catriona Strang, Rita Wong, Rachel Zolf.

These fifteen women are some of the best writers currently engaged in avant-garde literary production, defining the contours of new movements and schools of writing. By showcasing their work alongside extensive interviews, Prismatic Publics stages intimate encounters with these key figures as they work in and against feminist, Language, conceptual, investigative and other poetic traditions – often across, between and at the interstices of genres.

The writers in this anthology do not represent a single movement or tradition, although they all recognize language as inherently problematic and a perpetual subject of inquiry. Theirs is writing that demands a heightened level of attentiveness and attunement to what language can do on the page and in the social worlds of its making.

Gathered in a single volume, these selections – some dating back to the early 1970s and others appearing in print for the first time – provide an opportunity to trace the diverse networks, influences, dialogues, dialectics and interventions that continue to make Canada’s innovative women writers a powerful force in avant-garde writing around the world.

‘This is a brilliantly orchestrated, important anthology … How stunning to see exemplified in every moment of writing an unsettling of outworn premises and a manifestation of new thought.’ – Carla Harryman

‘The editors have assembled a polyphonic chorus of texts and interviews by some of Canada’s most lauded writers that highlights the continuing prominence of women as theorists and cultural activists in avant-garde poetic movements. The borders of gender and genre shift as these poets explore the potentials of the porous subject in their work upon systems – linguistic, textual and social. Innovative poetics, stimulating dialogues, inviting active readers.’ – Barbara Godard