Susan McMaster


Susan McMaster is a Canadian poet, literary editor, performance poet, and former president of the League of Canadian Poets.

Early life and education

McMaster came to Ottawa with her family in 1955 and attended First Avenue Public School, Elmdale, Connaught, Lisgar Collegiate, Carleton University, and Ottawa Teachers' College.

Editing career

While she taught for a few years, McMaster has spent most of her paid working career as an editor, notably at the National Gallery of Canada from 1989 to 2008 as an editor of some 40 art catalogues and founder of the Gallery magazine Vernissage.
McMaster was the founding editor of the feminist and art magazine Branching Out.
McMaster is a member of the League of Canadian Poets, The Writers' Union of Canada, the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia, PEN, the Writers' Trust, SOCAN, Access copyright, and the Religious Society of Friends.

Personal life

McMaster lives in Ottawa, Ontario. She and her husband Ian spend part of each summer at their cottage in Nova Scotia on the Bay of Fundy. They have two grown daughters, Morel and Aven, and three grandchildren.

Works

Selected publications

  • Branching Out Magazine, founding editor. Edmonton, 1973–75, editor 1975–80 Sharon Batt.
  • Pass this way again..
  • Dark Galaxies..
  • North/South..
  • Dangerous Graces: Women's Poetry on Stage..
  • Wordmusic.. Reissued with additional tracks by Penn Kemp, Max Middle, and Linsey Wellman as 1981 Wordmusic 2007.
  • The Hummingbird Murders...
  • Learning to Ride...
  • Dangerous Times..
  • Uncommon Prayer...
  • Siolence: Poets on Women, Violence and Silence..
  • SugarBeat Music & Poetry...
  • Geode Music & Poetry...
  • Waging Peace: Poetry and Political Action, editor...
  • La Deriva del Pianeta/World Shift, translations into Italian by Ada Donati...
  • Until the Light Bends. Finalist: Ottawa Book Awards; Lampman-Scott Award..
  • Until the Light Bends: Geode Music & Poetry...
  • The Gargoyle's Left Ear: Writing in Ottawa..
  • Crossing Arcs: Alzheimer's, My Mother, and Me.. Finalist: Acorn-Plantos Peoples' Poetry Award; Ottawa Book Awards; Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry.
  • Paper Affair: Poems Selected & New..
  • Pith & Wry: Canadian Poetry, editor...

    Selected anthologies

  • Celebrating Canadian Women. Ed. Greta Hofmann Nemiroff.
  • A Room at the Heart of Things. Ed. Elisabeth Harvor.
  • Crossing Boundaries: An International Anthology of Women's Experiences in Sport. Eds. Susan J. Bandy, Anne S. Darden..
  • Line by Line: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry. Ed. and with drawings by Heather Spears.
  • Nth. Eds. Carolyn Creed, Fred Wah.
  • The Lunar Plexus. Aut. Penn Kemp..
  • Two Lips. Aut. Penn Kemp..
  • Re:Generations: Canadian Women Poets in Conversation. Eds. Barbara Godard, Di Brandt..