Jenny Sampirisi

Jenny Sampirisi is a Canadian poet, novelist, editor, and university instructor, living in Toronto. She is the author of the novel is/was (Insomniac Press) and experimental poetry narrative Croak (Coach House Books).[1][2]

Jenny Sampirisi
BornJennifer Lee Sampirisi
(1981-04-16) April 16, 1981
Toronto
NationalityCanadian
Notable worksis/was, Croak

Biography

Sampirisi graduated with an MA in English Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Windsor[3] in 2006 where she studied with poets Susan Holbrook, Di Brandt, Margaret Christakos and Marty Gervais. She collaborated with Margaret Christakos and Rachel Zolf for a polyvocal, multimedia staging of Christakos' polyvocal performance of Orphans Fan the Flames and Zolf's Masque. In 2007, she founded the visual poetry website OtherCl/utter,[4] a place to play with language and image.

Sampirisi is the former Managing Editor of BookThug,[5] where she also edited the Department of Narrative Studies imprint, focusing on innovative prose.[6] She is co-founder and co-director of the Toronto New School of Writing, a series of reading and writing workshops designed and facilitated by working writers. The school has featured workshops and performances by Phil Hall, Alice Notley, Anne Waldman and Anslem Berrigan among others. Previously she was the Associate Director of the Scream Literary Festival, a festival of experimental poetry that was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada from 1993 until 2011.[7][8]

Sampirisi teaches English Literature, Creative Writing and Composition at Toronto Metropolitan University (previously Ryerson University).[9] There, she works in the Spanning the Gaps: Access to Post-Secondary Education program, and what was previously known as the Ryerson University Now (RUN) program. These programs were developed based on the belief that education can break cycles of inter-generational poverty and social exclusion, and admit students who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend university.[10] In 2011 she was nominated for the Dean's Teaching Award for her work in these programs.

Awards

In 2011, Sampirisi was awarded the KM Hunter Artist Award for Literature.[11] The annual award is given to Ontario residents who have completed their training, begun to produce a body of work and are starting to make a significant mark in their field.

Books
  • Croak. Toronto: Coach House Books, 2011.[12]
  • is/was. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2009.[13]

References
  1. Morse, Garry Thomas (9 January 2012). "Species Counterpoint: Reverberations of Jenny Sampirisi's Croak". The Toronto Review of Books. The Toronto Review of Books. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  2. Abramson, Seth (2 April 2012). "April 2012 Contemporary Poetry Reviews". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  3. "English Alumni Profiles". University of Windsor. Creative Writing Program. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  4. "Other Clutt/er". Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  5. Medford, Michelle. "BookThug: Small Press, Big Ambitions". Open Book Toronto. Archived from the original on 27 January 2012. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  6. "Jenny Sampirisi". The Toronto New School of Writing. The Toronto New School of Writing. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  7. "The Scream Literary Festival". Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  8. Sampirisi, Jenny. "The Catharsis of Screaming". Open Book Toronto. Archived from the original on 11 April 2012. Retrieved 30 June 2012.
  9. "Jenny Sampirisi reading on March 2, 2011". English: Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. University of Windsor. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  10. "Spanning the Gaps". Ryerson University. Spanning the Gaps. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  11. "2011 K.M. Hunter Artist Awards Announced". Ontario Arts Foundation. Archived from the original on 1 January 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  12. Sampirisi, Jenny (2011). Croak. Toronto: Coach House Books. p. 96. ISBN 9781552452509.
  13. Sampirisi, Jenny (2009). is/was. Toronto: Insomniac. ISBN 978-1897178638.
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