About the Author
Catherine Graham
Author
Catherine Graham is a poet, novelist and creative writing instructor. She is the author of six acclaimed poetry collections, including The Celery Forest, a CBC Best Book of the Year and finalist for the Fred Cogswell Award for Excellence in Poetry. Her Red Hair Rises with the Wings of Insects was a finalist for the Raymond Souster Award and CAA Poetry Award and her debut novel, Quarry, was a finalist for the Sarton Women’s Book Award for Contemporary Fiction and Fred Kerner Book Award and won the Miramichi Reader’s “The Very Best!” Book Award and an Independent Publisher Book Awards’ gold medal for Fiction. She holds an MA in creative writing from Lancaster University (UK). Her poems have been translated into Greek, Serbo-Croatian, Bangla, Chinese and Spanish and have appeared in The Malahat Review, Arc Poetry Magazine, Glasgow Review of Books, Exile Quarterly, The Fiddlehead, Poetry Daily, Poetry Ireland, Gutter Magazine and have been broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster, anthologized in The White Page / An Bhileag Bhan: Twentieth Century Irish Women Poets and The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vol IV & V. A finalist for the Montreal International Poetry Prize, she has won the Arc Award of Awesomeness and her poems have been nominated for the 2020 National Magazine Award by Exile Magazine. She teaches creative writing at the University of Toronto where she won an Excellence in Teaching Award. A previous winner of the Toronto International Festival of Authors’ Poetry NOW, she leads their monthly book club and is also an interviewer for By the Lake Book Club.
Related Blog Posts
Literary Awards 2022: A Coast-to-Coast Roundup
Looking to add a little Province-based pedigree to your TBR, or just read more from your own backyard? We've rounded up the independently-published winners and nominees from literary awards all across Canada to make it easier than ever.
Lit Locale: Broken Landscapes in Æther: An Out-of-Body Lyric
Catherine Graham's book-length lyric essay Æther: An Out-of-Body Lyric (Wolsak and Wynn)—longlisted for the 2021 Toronto Book Award—is a luminous homage to family, to cancer, and to the strange windings of truth. Today, Graham tells us how her cancer diagnosis led ... Read more
How Do Poets Write Through Times of Crisis? Two approaches to writing poetry during uncertain times
In Review: The Week of October 15th
This week we appreciated local food producers, discovered and shared Indigenous-authored books, arm-chair traveled back to the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and much more.
In Review: The Week of April 2nd
We started off this month with Poetry Cure, a series dedicated to poetry as self-care, revisited some historical literary movements (postmodernism, what's up), and cheered for some indie presses that made the 2018 Alberta Literary Awards shortlist.
Poetry Cure: The Celery Forest by Catherine Graham
In today's poetry cure, we talk with Catherine Graham about the cancer-healing story that bookends her collection The Celery Forest (Wolsak & Wynn), the story behind the illustration on its cover, and what she'd use her powers for, if she had them (hint: definitely for good). ... Read more
Poetry Cure: National Poetry Month
Last year we raised our poetic fists for National Poetry Month with Poets Resist, a month-long celebration of poetry as a form of resistance. This year, we're taking a deep breath and preserving our collective strength with Poetry Cure, a series dedicated to poetry as a ... Read more
In Review: The Week of February 19th
This week we read some poetry, learned about feminist festivals, and tons more In Review.
Under the Cover: Narnia for Ghost Animals: the Story Behind My Poem “Winterhill”
Poet Catherine Graham's latest collection The Celery Forest (Wolsak & Wynn) is a revisiting: the poet reassesses themes and issues from her previous work in light of her breast cancer diagnosis. Catherine shares the surprise and delight of having a child fan of her work ... Read more
This Week in Lit Events: January 15-21st
If you live in southern Ontario or Victoria and love reading series, you're in luck! Check out our literary listings for this week and get your January poetry and fiction on.
Are you hosting an event featuring an author whose titles are available on All Lit Up? Send the event ... Read more
