Priscila Uppal

{{Short description|Canadian poet, novelist, and writer (1974–2018)}}

{{Infobox academic

| name = Priscila Uppal

| honorific_suffix = FRSC

| image = Priscilla Uppal.jpg

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| birth_date = {{birth date|1974|10|30}}

| birth_place = Ottawa, Ontario

| death_date = {{death date and age|2018|09|05|1974|10|30}}

| death_place = Toronto, Ontario

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| occupation = Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Professor

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| alma_mater = York University (BA. Hons; Ph.D)
University of Toronto (MA)

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| discipline = English studies

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| workplaces = York University

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Priscila Uppal FRSC (October 30, 1974 – September 5, 2018) was a Canadian poet, novelist, fiction writer, and playwright. Her poetry addressed various social issues regarding "women, violence, sexuality, culture, religion, illness and loss."

Personal life and career

Uppal was born in Ottawa, Ontario, she graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1993. She earned her Honours Bachelor of Arts from York University in 1997, a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from York University in 2004.{{Cite web |date=24 May 2018 |title=Priscila Uppal |url=http://profiles.laps.yorku.ca/profiles/puppal/ |access-date=2019-03-08 |website=Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies |publisher=York University |archive-date=2019-03-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190306031536/http://profiles.laps.yorku.ca/profiles/puppal/ |url-status=live }} Following graduation, she was a professor in the Department of English at York University in Toronto and taught literature and creative writing.{{cite web |url=http://cwip.artmob.ca/contributors/priscilla-uppal |title=Priscila Uppal | Canadian Writers in Person |accessdate=2011-07-27 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120326140759/http://cwip.artmob.ca/contributors/priscilla-uppal |archivedate=2012-03-26 }}

In 2007, her book of poetry Ontological Necessities was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize.{{Cite web |title=Priscila Uppal |url=https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poet/priscila-uppal/ |access-date=2023-05-21 |website=Griffin Poetry Prize |language=en-US |archive-date=2023-03-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324085510/https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poet/priscila-uppal/ |url-status=live }} Uppal's poetry collection Pretending to Die (2001) was shortlisted for the ReLit Award,{{cite web |author=Davis |first=Charlene |last2=Mcintosh |first2=Andrew |date=2018-09-07 |title=Priscila Uppal |url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/priscila-uppal |accessdate=2023-05-20 |website=The Canadian Encyclopedia |archive-date=2019-02-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050317/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/priscila-uppal |url-status=live }} and her memoir Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction in 2013.{{Cite news |last=Carter |first=Sue |date=October 15, 2014 |title=Naomi Klein wins Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize |work=Quill and Quire |url=https://quillandquire.com/awards/2014/10/15/naomi-klein-wins-hilary-weston-writers-trust-prize/ |access-date=September 5, 2018 |archive-date=September 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905215041/https://quillandquire.com/awards/2014/10/15/naomi-klein-wins-hilary-weston-writers-trust-prize/ |url-status=live }} She served as the first poet-in-residence for the Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament in 2011.{{Cite web|url=https://library.ryerson.ca/asianheritage/authors/uppal/|title=Priscila Uppal {{!}} Asian Heritage in Canada|language=en-US|access-date=2019-03-07|archive-date=2019-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190308002928/https://library.ryerson.ca/asianheritage/authors/uppal/|url-status=live}} She was also the Olympic poet-in-residence at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 London Summer Olympics.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2018/09/05/poet-priscila-uppal-dies-at-44-a-genuine-spirit-is-gone.html|title=Poet Priscila Uppal dies at 43 — 'a genuine spirit is gone' {{!}} The Star|website=thestar.com|date=5 September 2018|language=en|access-date=2019-03-07|archive-date=2019-04-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190416135021/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2018/09/05/poet-priscila-uppal-dies-at-44-a-genuine-spirit-is-gone.html|url-status=live}} As a result of her role as the poet-in-residence for the London Summer Olympics, she was dubbed "Canada's coolest poet" by Time Out London magazine. Uppal also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016.{{cite web |url=http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2014/09/09/prof-priscila-uppal-elected-as-fellow-to-royal-society-of-canada/ |title=Prof. Priscila Uppal elected as Fellow to Royal Society of Canada |publisher=York University |date=September 9, 2014 |accessdate=February 14, 2019 |archive-date=September 15, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150915160706/http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2014/09/09/prof-priscila-uppal-elected-as-fellow-to-royal-society-of-canada/ |url-status=live }}

Uppal died of synovial sarcoma on September 5, 2018{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/books/priscila-uppal-canadian-poet-dead-at-44-1.4811402 |title=Priscila Uppal, Canadian poet, dead at 43 |date=September 5, 2018 |accessdate=September 5, 2018 |publisher=CBC Books |archive-date=September 6, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906015058/https://www.cbc.ca/books/priscila-uppal-canadian-poet-dead-at-44-1.4811402 |url-status=live }} after being diagnosed with the disease three years prior.

Awards and honours

Uppal became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016.

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible"

|+Awards for Uppal's writing

!Year

!Title

!Award

!Result

!Ref.

2001

|Pretending to Die

|ReLit Award

|Shortlist

2007

|Ontological Necessities

|Griffin Poetry Prize

|Shortlist

2013

|Projection

|Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction

|Shortlist

|{{Cite web |title=Past GGBooks winners and finalists |url=https://ggbooks.ca/past-winners-and-finalists |access-date=2021-11-27 |website=Governor General's Literary Awards |language=en |archive-date=2021-04-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210421134720/https://ggbooks.ca/past-winners-and-finalists |url-status=live }}

2013

|Projection

|Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction

|Shortlist

Bibliography

= Poetry =

How to Draw Blood From a Stone, Exile Editions, Ltd. 1998. {{Isbn|978-1-55096-230-7}}.
Confessions of a Fertility Expert, Exile Editions, Ltd. 1999. {{Isbn|978-1-55096-550-6}}.
Pretending to Die, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2001. {{Isbn|978-1-55096-519-3}}.
Live Coverage, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2003. {{Isbn|978-1-55096-571-1}}.
Cover Before Striking, Lyricalmyrical Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-0-9736588-4-2}}
Holocaust Dream, MacLaren Arts Centre, 2005, {{ISBN|978-0-9693555-9-5}} (photographs by Daniel Ehrenworth)
Ontological Necessities, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2003. {{Isbn|978-1-55096-045-7}}.
Traumatology, Exile Editions, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-55096-139-3}}
Winter Sport: Poems, Mansfield Press, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-894469-49-4}}
Successful Tragedies, Bloodaxe Books, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-85224-860-4}}

= Fiction =

The Divine Economy of Salvation, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2002, {{ISBN|978-1-56512-365-6}}; Doubleday Canada, 2003, {{ISBN|978-0-385-65805-8}}
To Whom It May Concern, Doubleday Canada, 2009, {{ISBN|978-0-385-65993-2}}
Cover Before Striking, Dundurn Press, 2015, {{ISBN|978-1-459-72952-0}}

= Non-fiction =

We Are What We Mourn, McGill–Queen's University Press, 2009. {{Isbn|978-0-7735-3456-8}}
Projection, Dundurn Press, 2013, {{ISBN|978-1-77102-274-3}}

= Anthologies (as editor) =

The Exile Book of Canadian Sports Stories, Exile Editions, 2010, {{ISBN|978-1-55096-125-6}}
The Exile Book of Poetry in Translation: Twenty Canadian Poets Take on the World, Exile Editions, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-55096-122-5}}
Barry Callaghan: Essays on his Works, Guernica, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-55071-253-7}}
Uncommon Ground: A Celebration of Matt Cohen – 2002 (edited with Graeme Gibson, Wayne Grady, and Dennis Lee)
Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets, Mansfield Press, 2004, {{ISBN|978-1-894469-16-6}} (edited with Rishma Dunlop)

= Anthologies (as contributor) =

Alphabet City 11: Trash
Body Language: A Head to Toe Anthology
Certain Things About My Mother: Daughters Speak
In the Dark: Stories from the Supernatural
Larger Than Life
Mentor's Canon: poems about / for / after writers
New Canadian Poetry
Writer's Gym

= Plays =

What Linda Said{{Cite web|url=http://summerworks.ca/artists/what-linda-said/|title=What Linda Said|website=Summerworks Performance Festival|language=en-CA|access-date=2019-03-08|archive-date=2018-11-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181112230909/http://summerworks.ca/artists/what-linda-said/|url-status=live}}