Priscila Uppal


Priscila Uppal FRSC 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. Following graduation, she was a professor in the Department of English at York University in Toronto and taught literature and creative writing.
In 2007, her book of poetry Ontological Necessities was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize. Uppal's poetry collection Pretending to Die was shortlisted for the ReLit Award, and her memoir Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction in 2013. She served as the first poet-in-residence for the Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament in 2011. She was also the Olympic poet-in-residence at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 London Summer Olympics. 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.
Uppal died of synovial sarcoma on September 5, 2018 after being diagnosed with the disease three years prior.

Awards and honours

Uppal became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016.
YearTitleAwardResultRef.
2001Pretending to DieReLit AwardShortlist
2007Ontological NecessitiesGriffin Poetry PrizeShortlist
2013ProjectionGovernor General's Award for English-language non-fictionShortlist
2013ProjectionHilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for NonfictionShortlist

Poetry

How to Draw Blood From a Stone, Exile Editions, Ltd. 1998..Confessions of a Fertility Expert, Exile Editions, Ltd. 1999..Pretending to Die, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2001..Live Coverage, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2003..Cover Before Striking, Lyricalmyrical Press, 2004, Holocaust Dream, MacLaren Arts Centre, 2005, Ontological Necessities, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2003..Traumatology, Exile Editions, 2010, Winter Sport: Poems, Mansfield Press, 2010,

Fiction

The Divine Economy of Salvation, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2002, ; Doubleday Canada, 2003, To Whom It May Concern, Doubleday Canada, 2009, Cover Before Striking, Dundurn Press, 2015,

Non-fiction

We Are What We Mourn, McGill–Queen's University Press, 2009. Projection, Dundurn Press, 2013,

Anthologies (as editor)

The Exile Book of Canadian Sports Stories, Exile Editions, 2010, The Exile Book of Poetry in Translation: Twenty Canadian Poets Take on the World, Exile Editions, 2009, Barry Callaghan: Essays on his Works, Guernica, 2007, Uncommon Ground: A Celebration of Matt Cohen – 2002 Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets, Mansfield Press, 2004,

Anthologies (as contributor)

Alphabet City 11: TrashBody Language: A Head to Toe AnthologyCertain Things About My Mother: Daughters SpeakIn the Dark: Stories from the SupernaturalLarger Than LifeMentor's Canon: poems about / for / after writersNew Canadian Poetry
  • ''Writer's Gym''

Plays

  • ''What Linda Said''