Anne Simpson

Anne Simpson (born 1956) is a Canadian poet, novelist, artist and essayist. She was a recipient of the Griffin Poetry Prize.

Biography Simpson received her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degrees from Queen's University, and graduated in Fine Arts from OCAD University (formerly the Ontario College of Art). Subsequently, she worked as a CUSO volunteer English teacher for two years in Nigeria. She has been a faculty member at Sage Hill Writing Experience and the Banff Centre. awarded for her short story Dreaming Snow. Her second collection of poetry, Loop (McClelland & Stewart, 2003), was the winner of the 2004 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize. Loop contains many poems composed in sequences, including, notably, a poetic demonstration of a Möbius strip.

Her other poetry collections include Light Falls Through You (McClelland & Stewart, 2000), winner of the Gerald Lampert Award and the Atlantic Poetry Prize, Quick (McClelland & Stewart, 2007), winner of the Pat Lowther Award, and Is (McClelland & Stewart, 2011) in which Simpson 'negotiates an ever-changing path between language and structure'.

Simpson has written three novels: Speechless (Freehand, 2020), Canterbury Beach (Penguin, 2001) and Falling (McClelland & Stewart, 2008), which was a Canadian bestseller and winner of the Dartmouth Fiction Award. It was long-listed for the International Dublin Literary Award.

She has also written a book of essays on poetics, The Marram Grass: Poetry and Otherness (Gaspereau, 2009).

Publications Poetry Light Falls Through You – 2000 (winner of the Gerald Lampert Award and the Atlantic Poetry Prize) Loop – 2003 (shortlisted for the 2003 Governor General's Award, winner of the 2004 Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize) Quick – 2007 (winner of the 2008 Pat Lowther Award) Is – 2011

Novels Canterbury Beach – 2001 (shortlisted for the Thomas Head Raddall Award) Falling – 2008 Speechless – 2020

Essays A Ragged Pen: Essays on Poetry & Memory – 2006 Gaspereau Press The Marram Grass: Poetry & Otherness – 2009 Gaspereau Press Experiments in Distant Influence – 2020 Gaspereau Press