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by George J. Dance

Priscila Uppal by Daniel Ehrenworth1

Priscila Uppal in 2011. Photo by Daniel Ehrenworth. Courtesy Open Book Toronto.

Priscila Uppal FRSC (October 30, 1974 - September 5, 2018) was a Canadian poet, fiction writer, and academic, in her lifetime called "Canada's coolest poet."[1]

Life[]

Uppal was born in Ottawa, Ontario.[1] When she was young, her mother abandoned her children and disabled husband.[2]

Uppal graduated from Ottawa's Hillcrest High School in 1993.[3]

She earned a B.A. in English and creative writing from York University (York) in 1997, an M.A. in English from the University of Toronto in 1998, and a Ph.D. in English literature from York in 2003.[4]

She lived in Toronto, where she was a professor of humanities and English at York. She was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Toronto Arts Council.[5]

She frequently gave guest lectures, talks, and workshops in both academic and non-academic circles about writing, reading, literacy, ethnicity, revisionism, genres, pedagogy, and many other topics, in Canada and internationally. She appeared on numerous TV and radio programs and panels, and was reviewed and profiled in national and international papers.[6]

Her works have been published and taught internationally, and translated into Croatian, Dutch, French, Greek, Italian, Korean and Latvian.[5]

She was poet in residence for Canadian Athletes Now during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, and in 2011 became the 1st Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament poet in residence.[4] She was originally called "Canada's coolest poet" by London magazine Time Out in 2012, when she was appointed poet in residence at the Summer Olympics in London.[6]

In 2015 she was diagnosed with servical sarcoma, a rare and aggressive form of cancer, from which she died 3 years later.[2]

Writing[]

In her 2013 memoir, Projection: Encounters with my runaway mother, she wrote about her reconciliation with her mother, who had abandoned her as a young child.[2]

Toronto Star Uppal's "bravery and artistry was perhaps best exemplified in the 2017 play What Linda Said, in which she confronted head on, with sometimes biting humour, what it was to cope with cancer."[6]

Quotations[]

"I think a very undervalued and powerful tool is the imagination. When you're facing something like [cancer], many people like me feel disconnected and alienated from themselves — from their bodies, from their coworkers, from their loved ones, from the world. The imagination is actually a way to repair and reconnect and heal those connections to yourself and other people."[2]

""The power of poetry is difficult to measure or quantify and yet you know its power when you witness its effects."[6]

Recognition[]

She was 1 of 3 Canadian writers on the 2007 shortlist for the Griffin Poetry Prize.[7]

In 2014 she was elected as a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.[5]

Publications[]

Poetry[]

Play[]

  • 6 Essential Questions. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2015.

Novels[]

Short fiction[]

  • Cover Before Striking: Stories. Toronto: Lyricalmyrical Press, 2004 ISBN 978-0-9736588-4-2; Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2015.

Non-fiction[]

Edited[]

  • Red Silk: An anthology of south Asian Canadian women poets (edited with Rishma Dunlop). Toronto: Mansfield Press, 2004. ISBN 978-1-894469-16-6
  • Uncommon Ground: A celebration of Matt Cohen (edited with Graeme Gibson, Wayne Grady, & Dennis Lee). Toronto: Knopf, 2002.[8]
  • Barry Callaghan: Essays on his works. Toronto: Guernica, 2007 ISBN 978-1-55071-253-7
  • The Exile Book of Poetry in Translation: Twenty Canadian poets take on the world. Holstein, ON: Exile Editions, 2009, ISBN 978-1-55096-122-5
  • The Exile Book of Canadian Sports Stories. Holstein, ON: Exile Editions, 2010. ISBN 978-1-55096-125-6
  • The Best Canadian Poetry in English, 2011 (edited with Molly Peacock). Toronto: Tightrope Books, 2011.
Poet_Priscila_Uppal_reads_from_Ontological_Necessities

Poet Priscila Uppal reads from Ontological Necessities


Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.[9]

See also[]

References[]

Fonds[]

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Charlene Davis, Priscila Uppal, Canadian Encyclopedia, September 7, 2018. Web, May 10, 2019.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Priscila Uppal, Canadian poet, dead at 43," CBC Books, September 5, 2018, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Web, May 11, 2019.
  3. Priscilla Uppal, Wikipedia, October 25, 2016, Wikimedia Foundation. Web, Nov. 5, 2016.
  4. 4.0 4.1 Priscilla Uppal, Asian Heritage in Toronto, Ryerson University Library & Archives. Web, Nov. 5, 2016.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 About, PriscillaUppalCa. Web, Nov. 5, 2016.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 ""'Canada's Coolest Poet: York English Professor Priscila Uppal, Dies," Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, September 5, 2018, York University. Web, May 11, 2019.
  7. Griffin Poetry Prize biography
  8. Uncommon Ground, Priscila Uppal. Web, Dec. 8, 2015.
  9. Search results = au:Priscila Uppal, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Dec. 9, 2015.

External links[]

Poems
Audio / video
Books
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Original Penny's Poetry Pages article, licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License 3.0.
This is a signed article by User:George Dance. It may be edited for spelling errors or typos, but not for substantive content except by its author. If you have created a user name and verified your identity, provided you have set forth your credentials on your user page, you can add comments to the bottom of this article as peer review.
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