EXCITING NEWS: The Garbage Poems is now out from Brick Books with full-colour  illustrations by April White. You can buy the book at any local bookstore (ask them to order it in if it’s not on the shelf). I’d also be thrilled if you requested it at your local library. 

Bio: Anna Swanson(she/her) is a queer writer and librarian. The Garbage Poems (Brick Books, 2025) is her second collection of poetry. Her first book, The Nights Also (Tightrope Books, 2010), won the Gerald Lampert Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Her writing has been widely published in journals and appears in anthologies including Best Canadian Poetry, Impact: Women Writing After Concussion, In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry, Watch Your Head: Writers and Artists Respond to the Climate Crisis, and Torah: A Women’s Commentary. She recently completed an MFA at the University of Guelph and lives in St. John’s on the island of Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland), where she works as a poetry editor for Riddle Fence Magazine. Her special interests include collective liberation and wild swimming in all seasons.

Awards:

• CBC Poetry Prize shortlist, 2023
• Arc Award of Awesomeness, 2022
• Sparks Literary Festival Poetry Competition, 2020
• Newfoundland and Labrador Arts & Letters Award for Poetry, 2018
• CBC Poetry Prize shortlist, 2015
• Arc Poem of the Year, Shortlist & Editor’s Choice, 2015
• Lambda Award for Lesbian Poetry, 2011
• Gerald Lampert Award for best first book of poetry by a Canadian, 2011
• Lina Chartrand Award for Poetry (CV2), 2009
• PRISM International Student Poetry Contest, First Place, 2007
• Bronwen Wallace Award for Poetry, Honourable Mention, 2004