Priscila Uppal is a Toronto poet, fiction writer and York University professor. Among her publications are seven collections of poetry, most recently, Ontological Necessities (2006; shortlisted for the $50,000 Griffin Poetry Prize), Traumatology (2010), and Successful Tragedies: Poems 1998-2010 (Bloodaxe Books, U.K.); the critically-acclaimed novels The Divine Economy of Salvation (2002) and To Whom It May Concern (2009); and the study We Are What We Mourn: The Contemporary English-Canadian Elegy (2009). Her work has been published internationally and translated into numerous languages. She is on the Board of Directors at the Toronto Arts Council, and was poet-in-residence for Canadian Athletes Now during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic games. Time Out London recently dubbed her “Canada’s coolest poet.”
For more information visit priscilauppal.ca

Language stimulates possibilities of meaning, and as such enables imaginations to grow, adapt, and expand. Reading and writing are core human activities that connect us to past, present, and future places, people, and eras. Poetry and other literary arts can be relevant and accessible to all audiences, young or old, formally educated or not, and can connect or reconnect individuals and communities with their most important thoughts, hopes, and dreams.