Margaret Christakos

Margaret Christakos (born in 1962 in Sudbury, Ontario) is a Canadian poet who lives in Toronto.

Life
Christakos was born and raised in Sudbury, Ontario. Christakos received her B.F.A. in Visual Arts from York University in 1985. She lived in Montreal from 1985 to 1987, settling in Toronto in 1988. She went on to pursue an M.A. in Education from OISE in the History and Philiosophy of Education in 1995. Christakos held a teaching position at OCAD from 1992-1997. From 2004-2005 she was the University of Windsor's Canada Council writer in residence. Additionally, she worked under PEN Canada in the political interests of exiled writers and has contributed to numerous poetry publications and events. She was an editor with Fireweed, with Women's Education des femmes, and with MIX: the magazine of artist-run culture. She currently works with students through the Writers In Electronic Residence (WIER) program and The University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. She has published eight collections of poetry and a novel, numerous chapbooks and has appeared in a diverse range of literary journals and anthologies. She is Publishing Editor of the online poetics magazine Influencysalon.ca, and since 2006 has run the course Influency: A Toronto Poetry Salon.

Work
Many writers have influenced Christakos' appreciation of literature. She has mentioned Nicole Brossard, Marguerite Duras, Daphne Marlatt, and Kathy Acker, among others.

Christakos writes about the fluid and intersecting lines of sexuality and identity. In addition, she explores gender and motherhood in her work. She has shown an interest in recombinant poetics as well as in autobiography's formal and social concerns.

Selected bibliography

 * Not Egypt (Toronto: Coach House Books, 1988)
 * With all my heart i heard u speaking (Toronto: Ice Floe Press, 1991)
 * Other Words for Grace (Stratford, Ontario: Mercury Press, 1994)
 * The Moment Coming (Toronto: ECW, 1998)
 * Wipe Under A Love (Toronto: The Mansfield Press, 2000)
 * Charisma (Toronto: Pedlar Press, 2000) (novel)
 * Excessive Love Prostheses (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2002)
 * Sooner (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2005)
 * Retreat Diary (Toronto: Book Thug, 2005)
 * Adult Video (Vancouver: Nomados, 2006)
 * What Stirs (Toronto: Coach House Books, 2008)
 * Welling (Sudbury: Your Scrivener Press, 2010)