Member Profile

Roo Borson is a poet and essayist. Her books include the collaborative works Introduction to the Introduction to Wang Wei by Pain Not Bread (Roo Borson, Kim Maltman, and Andy Patton) published by Brick Books, and Box Kite: Prose Poems by Baziju (Roo Borson and Kim Maltman) published by House of Anansi Press. Her most recent solo work is a triptych of poetry books linked through imagery and formal variation: Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida, followed by Rain; road; an open boat, followed by Cardinal in the Eastern White Cedar, published by McClelland & Stewart/Penguin Random House. She has served as Writer in Residence at Western University, Concordia University, Massey College at the University of Toronto, Green College at the University of British Columbia, and at the University of Guelph, and has given workshops across North America and readings in several countries. Short Journey Upriver Toward Oishida was awarded the Griffin Poetry Prize, the Governor General's Award, and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of British Columbia, and lives in Toronto with poet and theoretical physicist Kim Maltman. Their combined literary archives are held, alongside the archives of Pain Not Bread, at Library and Archives Canada.