Anna Swanson is a queer writer and librarian based in St. John’s, NL/Ktaqmkuk. She currently lives in Ontario where she is completing an MFA at the University of Guelph. Her writing is interested in themes of chronic illness, concussion, embodiment, identity, queerness, Jewish ritual, collective liberation, and survival joy. Her first book of poetry, The Nights Also (Tightrope Books, 2010) won the Gerald Lampert Award and a Lambda Literary Award. Her writing has appeared in many journals and anthologies including In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry, The Best Canadian Poetry in English, and Impact: Women Writing After Concussion. Her second collection of poetry, The Garbage Poems, is forthcoming from Brick Books in 2025. She works with Riddle Fence as a poetry editor, and loves 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