Micheline Maylor

Micheline Maylor (born in 1970) is a Canadian poet, academic, critic and editor.

Maylor was born in Windsor, Ontario of Metis, French, and English ancestry. She moved to Calgary, Alberta and was raised as a Buddhist by artist parents.

Maylor holds a BA from the University of Calgary (honours with a specialty in creative writing and a minor in anthropology). She earned a Masters degree from Lancaster University UK (distinction in creative writing/Can-Lit). She was awarded the International Research Scholarship and the Overseas research scholarship for the pursuit of a Ph.D from Newcastle on Tyne (Late 20th century Canadian literature and creative writing).

Poetry

Maylor's first book, Full Depth: The Raymond Knister Poems was long listed for the ReLit award and inspired by living in John Knister's ancestral home.

Her Chapbook, Starfish, an elegiac long poem written on the death of her best friend, sold out in 2007.

Her third collection, Whirr and Click was short-listed for the Pat Lowther Award for best book written by a Canadian woman in 2014, about which Douglas Glover writes, “Micheline Maylor writes poems with dash and élan, attack poems, full of desire, heart, dangerous men and revenge.”

Her newest collection, Little Wildheart, was recently short-listed for the Robert Kroetsch award for experimental poetry and deals with the question: What does it mean to be human? It is due for release in spring 2017 by the University of Alberta Press.

Her poetry has been published in over 85 journals in five countries.

Influences come from Don Coles, Jeffery Donaldson, Douglas Glover, Patrick Lane, Carmine Starnino, Richard Harrison and Jan Zwicky.

Editor

Maylor is the co-founder of the non-profit Freefall Literary Society where she was the editor in chief from 2006-2016, before shifting to Frontenac House Press. She currently edits the Quartet poetry series for which the authors have been shortlisted or have won: The Goldie Award for best Lesbian poetry book in North America; The Gerald Lampert Award for best first book; The Pat Lowther Award for best book by a Canadian woman; The Stephan G. Stephansson Award for best Alberta poetry book; The Alberta Readers’ Choice Awards; The City of Calgary W.O. Mitchell Award; and the Alberta Magazine Publisher’s Awards in several categories.

She is a regular poetry reviewer at Quill and Quire.

Teaching and mentoring

She holds a teaching position and has won awards at Mount Royal University. where she won the Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching by Mount Royal Faculty Association. She is the past president at the Alexandra Writers Centre Society and continues to teach the poetry master class.

Following the tradition of many Canadian Writers, she is a long-time member of the League of Canadian Poets.

Appointments

On April 25, 2016 Micheline Maylor was sworn in as Calgary's first female Poet Laureate for a two-year term, and as such acts as an ambassador of the arts to the citizens of Calgary. The Calgary Poet Laureate produces literary work that is reflective of Calgary’s landscape, cityscape and/or civic identity and that may raise awareness of local issues and is an initiative of the Calgary, an initiative of the Calgary Arts Development Authority

She was appointed as Author in Residence for the Calgary Public Library on April 26, 2016.

• Mount Royal University Faculty Association Excellence in Teaching 2015
• Short List Pat Lowther Award for poetry 2014
• 3rd place Geist post card story contest 2013
• Flair Foundation Creativity grant for Banff Centre 2010
• Short List Petra Kenny Award for poetry 2007
• Short List Robert Kroetsch Innovative Poetry Award 2016

• "Pat Lowther -Poets.ca". poets.ca. Retrieved 2015-12-26. 
• "Postcard Story Contest". Geist.com. Retrieved 2015-12-26. 
• "Morgan Kenney, Founder of the Petra Kenney Poetry Competition - Winning Writers". winningwriters.com. Retrieved 2015-12-26. 

Books

• 2013 – Whirr and Click (Frontenac House Ed. Rose Scollard) ISBN 978-1-897181-86-7
• 2011 – Starfish (Rubicon Press Ed. Jenna Butler) ISBN 978-0-9812848-9-7
• 2007 – Full Depth: The Raymond Knister poems (Wolsak and Wynn Ed. Maria Jacobs) ISBN 1-894987-17-9

Anthologies

• Shy (University of Alberta Press) 2013. ISBN 978-0-88864-670-5
• Poems for Planet Earth (Leaf Press) 2013
• Freshwater Pearls (Recliner Books) 2011
• Home and Away (House of Blue Skies) 2009

• "Even the Done: Poems — Micheline Maylor". Numéro Cinq. Retrieved 2015-12-26.