LORNA CROZIER

By Núria Mina-Riera

2016-handout-photo-of-poet-lorna-crozier-by-university-of-v1

Lorna Crozier (Swift Current, Saskatchewan, 1948) is a Canadian poet, who has also written two books of poetic prose and a children’s book. She is highly appreciated for her teaching and mentoring of young Canadian writers. Lorna Crozier has always acknowledged that she had never thought of becoming a writer during her high school years, because of her working-class background. After graduating from university, she became a high school English teacher and also worked as guidance counsellor. The first time that Crozier formally engaged in writing poetry was in her thesis for her MA in English at the University of Alberta (1980). Soon afterwards, Lorna Crozier published her first poem in the magazine Grain, which would become the beginning of her career as a poet. At that time, she was married to Mr Uher, a surname that she adopted in the publication of her first poetry collections. After divorcing her husband, she recovered her family surname, Crozier, which she has maintained, even after marrying her long-time companion and fellow poet Patrick Lane. Lorna Crozier has published sixteen poetry collections for which she has received a number of awards, including The Governor General’s Award for Inventing the Hawk, in 1992. She has held teaching positions and taught creative writing workshops in a number of institutions, such as the Banff School of Fine Arts, Red Deer College, the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts, the Sage Hill Writing Experience, and the Sechelt Summer Writing Festival. She has also been a writer-in-residence at the Cypress Hills Community College, the University of Toronto, and the Regina Public Library. Moreover, Lorna Crozier has given poetry readings around the world. In 1991 Crozier moved to British Columbia and worked as poetry professor for the University of Victoria, where in 2004 she was made Distinguished Professor. In 2005 she gave a command performance for Queen Elizabeth II. Lorna Crozier has received two honorarydoctorates for her contributions to Canadian literature, and in 2009 she was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She has been Professor Emeritus at the University of Victoria since 2014. Currently, she continues conducting poetry workshops across Canada, and released two new poetry collections in 2015.  

A List of Works:

Poetry Collections:

  • The Wrong Cat (2015)
  • The Wild in You: Voices from the Forest and the Sea (2015) (in collaboration with photographer Ian McAllister) 
  • Small Mechanics (2011)
  • Whetstone (2005)
  • Bones in Their Wings: Ghazals (2003)
  • Apocrypha of Light (2002)
  • What the Living Won’t Let Go (1999)
  • A Saving Grace: The Collected Poems of Mrs. Bentley (1996)
  • Everything Arrives at the Light (1995)
  • Inventing the Hawk (1992)
  • Angels of Flesh, Angels of Silence (1988)
  • The Garden Going On Without Us (1985)
  • The Weather (1983)
  • No Longer Two People (1981)
  • Humans and Other Beasts (1980)
  • Crow’s Black Joy (1979)
  • Inside Is the Sky (1976) 

Anthologies:

  • The Blue Hour of the Day (2007)
  • Before the First Word: The Poetry of Lorna Crozier (2005) 
  • Breathing Fire 2: Canada’s New Poets (2004) 
  • Addicted: Notes from the Belly of the Beast (2001)
  • Desire in Seven Voices (2000)
  • Breathing Fire (1995)
  • A Sudden Radiance (1987)

Other works:

  • Small Beneath the Sky: A Prairie Memoir (2009)
  • The Book of Marvels: A Compendium of Everyday Things (2013)
  • Lots of Kisses (2014)