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author photo by Sandy Campbell 2009
Wanda Campbell’s early childhood years were spent in her birthplace,
Andhra Pradesh, South India. After the age of ten, she grew up on
Canadian land bordering sea. Learning from living amid conversations
of converses in East and West, in English and Telegu and in extreme
poverty and exquisite beauty, Wanda shaped a unique aesthetic.
Without television, beginning with a big red book of fairy tales,
Wanda journeyed deep into the world of words through books. Winter
and Frost, two influential high-school teachers aspired her to
write. Mrs. Winter took her to her first poetry reading. Alden
Nowlan’s reading started her long apprenticeship in contemporary
poetics. Mr. Frost took her art class to New York City to see world
great art masterpieces. Female artists; biblical stories and
rhythms; literary classics; fine, faithful writers like Avison,
Levertov, Eliot and O’Connor; musical influences like The
Proclaimers, Leonard Cohen, Ami Mann and Cold Play—particularly
lyrics that read like poetry, using “the best words in the best
order” (Coleridge’s definition of poetry)—shape and inspire her.
Studies with Alistair MacLeod taught her about being a good person,
as well as a good writer.
She began writing early—letters, poems and little novels. When her
own words were put into print, Wanda Campbell felt like a real
writer.
Writing History Editing: Wanda has edited three
academic
works, Literature: A Pocket Anthology with Penguin, and Hidden
Rooms: Early
Canadian Women Poets and The Poetry of John Strachan with Canadian
Poetry
Press.
Besides Grace, Wanda has published the
following poetry collections:
- Looking for Lucy (Leaf 2008)
- Haw [Thorn] (Gaspereau 2003)
- Sky Fishing (Black Moss 1997)
Her poems and stories have appeared in numerous journals
including Antigonish Review, Dalhousie Review,
Descant, Driftwood, existere, Fiddlehead,
Gaspereau Review, Grain, Harpweaver,
Literary Review of Canada, New Quarterly, Queen’s
Quarterly, Room of One’s Own, Vallum,
Wascana Review, Windsor Review and in the anthologies
Landmarks: An Anthology of New Atlantic Canadian Poetry of the
Land, Body Language and Christian Poetry in Canada.
Happiest when she is writing, in a land where waves provide the
sounds of moving water that she enjoys, on the shores of the Bay of
Fundy where she lives with her husband and three daughters; among
art, nature and people that she loves, Wanda is inspired to
reconcile her career as a writer and a teacher. She is
instructor of Creative Writing and Women’s Literature at Acadia
University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Presently, she is working on a
collection of poetry about the lives of women artists and pioneers.
She performs readings throughout Canada, from Halifax to Victoria.
 Bio
(pdf)
Blue Grama Publications Corp. Book Title:
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Lethbridge, Alberta Canada
