Writer in Residence

Mackie House writer-in-residence arriving September 12th, 2011

Saskatchewan writer Brenda Schmidt will be arriving at Mackie House September 12th. A visual artist, as well as a writer, Brenda lives in Creighton, a small mining town on the Canadian Shield in Northern Saskatchewan. The author of three poetry collections, A Haunting Sun, More Than Three Feet of Ice and Cantos From Wolverine Creek, her work has been published, performed, shown and broadcast across Canada. While living in the north, she has worked as a freelance reporter and photographer for small circulation newspapers, written a birding column and volunteered in a recycling centre. A naturalist, birdwatcher and active blogger, Brenda also specializes in the fine art of road trips.

Reading Brenda’s work makes you feel like you’re down on your knees in the boreal forest, seeing things you never knew existed. These are no fluffy nature poems. Bill Robertson of the Star Phoenix calls Cantos From Wolverine Creek “...terse, fiercely unsentimental observations of life as many people live it.”

During her two-week stay at Mackie House, Brenda will be working on a manuscript that crosses the genres of poetry and creative non-fiction. The result will be published by Kalamalka Press in 2012.
Brenda Schmidt’s blog, Alone on Boreal Stage, is a thing of beauty. Have a look:
 http://birdschmidt.blogspot.com/

And watch her video poem, “Suckers:”

Past Writers in Residence