Betsy Warland

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{{Infobox person

| name = Betsy Warland

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1946}}

| birth_place = Fort Dodge, Iowa, U.S.

| alma_mater = Luther College

| occupation = {{hlist|Writer|manuscript consultant|teacher}}

}}

Betsy Warland (born 1946) is a Canadian feminist writer of over a dozen books of poetry, creative nonfiction, and lyrical prose. She is best known for her collection of essays, Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing (2010).{{Cite web |title=Betsy Warland |url=https://www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/instructors/u-z/betsy-warland.html |access-date=2022-05-06 |language=en}}

Life

Warland was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1946. She studied at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, before emigrating to Canada in 1972. She started the Toronto Women's Writing Collective (1973–1981), which hosted events, including co-hosting (with the Toronto Women's Bookstore) Writers in Dialogue, featuring Adrienne Rich, Nicole Brossard, May Sarton, Audrey Thomas, Margaret Atwood, and Marge Piercy.{{Cite web|url=http://artsites.uottawa.ca/margento/en/2013/10/29/betsy-warland-saving-a-seat-for-the-reader|title=Margento: University of Ottawa|access-date=August 5, 2017|archive-date=August 13, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170813222317/http://artsites.uottawa.ca/margento/en/2013/10/29/betsy-warland-saving-a-seat-for-the-reader/|url-status=dead}} She initiated and co-organized (with Victoria Freeman) the Women and Words/Les Femmes et les mots conference at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1983.{{Cite web |title=Betsy Warland |url=https://www.sfu.ca/continuing-studies/instructors/u-z/betsy-warland.html |access-date=2023-08-02 |website=www.sfu.ca |language=en}}

From 1986 to 1987, Warland was the executive director of the Federation of BC Writers; additionally, she initiated Spring Rites, the annual competition for BC Writers. Warland sat on the Special Council Committee of the Arts for the Vancouver City Council. Warland has mentored writers such as Jónína Kirton.{{Cite web |title=In Conversation with Betsy Warland {{!}} Room Magazine |url=https://roommagazine.com/interview/conversation-betsy-warland |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180823042020/https://roommagazine.com/interview/conversation-betsy-warland |archive-date=August 23, 2018 |access-date=2018-08-22 |website=roommagazine.com |language=en}} She co-founded the Creative Nonfiction Collective with Myrna Kostash in 2004 and served on its board. She served on the National Council of the Writers' Union of Canada from 2009 to 2012.{{Cite web|url=http://www.betsywarland.com|title=BetsyWarland.com}}

She designed the Writer's Studio program at Simon Fraser University in 2001 and served as its director until 2012, during which time she helped initiate the Thursdays Writing Collective in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.{{Cite web|url=http://www.thursdayswritingcollective.ca/about/history|title=Thursdays Writing Collective|date=April 29, 2014}} In 2007, she founded the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive program, for which she continues to serve as a director. Warland has led multiple workshops in the United Kingdom at the Poetry School (London), the Poetry Library (London), and the Arvon Foundation (Devon). She also led workshops in Canada at Sage Hill, Booming Ground (UBC), the Metchosin International School of the Arts, Hollyhock,{{Cite web |title=Hollyhock Programs |url=https://hollyhock.ca/programs/6572/tapping-the-stream-a-spring-writing-retreat/ |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=www.hollyhock.ca |date=August 3, 2022 |language=en}} and Simon Fraser University, among others.

An annual book award honoring Warland, the VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award, was launched in 2021. Jordan Abel was the inaugural 2021 winner for his book, Nishga.{{Cite web |title=2021 Shortlist and Winner |url=https://www.vancouvermanuscriptintensive.com/warland-award/2021-shortlist/ |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=Vancouver Manuscript Intensive |language=en-CA}} In 2022, the winning book was Remnants, written by Céline Huyghebaert and translated by Aleshia Jensen.{{Cite web |title=2022 Shortlist and Winner |url=https://www.vancouvermanuscriptintensive.com/warland-award/2022-shortlist/ |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=Vancouver Manuscript Intensive |language=en-CA}} The 2023 winner was Nicholas Dawson, with translator D.M. Bradford, for the book House Within a House.{{Cite web |title=2023 Shortlist and Winner | url=https://www.vancouvermanuscriptintensive.com/warland-award/2023-shortlist-and-winner/ |access-date=2024-03-11 |website=Vancouver Manuscript Intensive |language=en}}

Warland's personal documents, interviews, photographs, and manuscripts have been acquired by the literary archives at Library and Archives Canada.{{Cite web |date=April 8, 2013 |title=Library and Archives Canada |url=http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/literaryarchives/027011-200.141-e.html}}

Writing

Much of Warland's literary output has been in the form of essays, memoirs, and poetry books relating to the writing process, feminism, women's studies, and lesbian issues. Her work has appeared in both Canadian and international journals, as well as anthologies.

Selected works

Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing. Second edition. Cormorant Books, 2023,{{cite web | url=https://www.cormorantbooks.com/breathing-the-page | title=Breathing the Page }}
Bloodroot: Tracing the Untelling of Motherloss. Second edition. Inanna Publications/York University, 2022{{Cite news|title=Bloodroot: Tracing the Untelling of Motherloss|url=https://www.inanna.ca/product/bloodroot-tracing-the-untelling-of-motherloss/|access-date=2021-05-19|website=Inanna Publications|language=en-US}}
Lost Lagoon/Lost in Thought. [https://caitlinpress.com/Books/L/Lost-Lagoon-Lost-in-Thought Caitlin Press], 2020{{Cite web|title=Lost Lagoon/lost in thought|url=https://caitlin-press.com/our-books/lost-lagoon-lost-in-thought/|access-date=2021-05-19|website=Caitlin Press|language=en-US}}
Oscar of Between: A Memoir of Identity and Ideas. [https://caitlinpress.com/Books/O/Oscar-of-Between Caitlin Press], 2016{{Cite web|title=Oscar of Between|url=https://caitlin-press.com/our-books/oscar-of-between/|access-date=2021-05-19|website=Caitlin Press|language=en-US}}
Oscar's Salon, an interactive online salon of excerpts from Oscar of Between in concert. BetsyWarland.com, 2012–2017
Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing. Cormorant Books, 2010{{Cite web|title=Breathing the Page|url=https://www.cormorantbooks.com/breathing-the-page|access-date=2021-05-19|website=Cormorant Books|language=en}}
Only This Blue: A Long Poem with an Essay. The Mercury Press, 2005
Bloodroot: Tracing the Untelling of Motherloss. Second Story Press, 2000
What Holds Us Here. Buschek Books, 1998{{Cite web|title=whuh|url=http://www.buschekbooks.com/whuh.htm|access-date=2021-05-19|website=www.buschekbooks.com}}
Two Women in a Birth (with Daphne Marlatt). Guernica Editions, 1994
The Bat Had Blue Eyes. Women's Press, 1993
InVersions: Writing by Dykes, Queers and Lesbians (editor). Press Gang, 1991
Telling It: Women and Language across Cultures (co-editor with Daphne Marlatt, Lee Maracle, and Sky Lee). Press Gang, 1990
Proper Deafinitions: Collected Theorograms. Press Gang, 1990
serpent (w)rite: (a reader's gloss). Coach House, 1987
Double Negative (with Daphne Marlatt). Gynergy books/Ragweed Press, 1986
open is broken. Longspoon Press, 1984
A Gathering Instinct. Williams-Wallace, 1981

Awards

The Vancouver Mayor's Arts Award for Literary Arts, October 2016{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=2016 Mayor's Arts Awards Recipients Announced |url=https://www.allianceforarts.com/blog/2016/9/26/2016-mayors-arts-awards-recipients-announced |access-date=2023-05-08 |website=BC Alliance for Arts + Culture |date= September 29, 2016|language=en-CA}}
Pandora's Literary Festival BC Writer Mentor Award, 2011

References

External links

[http://www.betsywarland.com/ Betsy Warland]
Archives of Betsy Warland [http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=3673318&lang=eng (Betsy Warland fonds, R11827)] are held at Library and Archives Canada

Category:1946 births

Category:Living people

Category:20th-century American essayists

Category:20th-century American poets

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:20th-century Canadian essayists

Category:20th-century Canadian poets

Category:20th-century Canadian women writers

Category:21st-century American essayists

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:21st-century Canadian essayists

Category:21st-century Canadian LGBTQ people