Jannie Edwards lives and writes in Edmonton. She has written three books of poetry — The Possibilities of Thirst (1997) and Blood Opera: The Raven Tango Poems (2006), in collaboration with visual artist Paul Saturley, and Falling Blues forthcoming in Spring 2010 from Fronteanc House Press. Edmonton's Theatre Prospero has adapted Blood Opera for the stage. The videopoem Engrams: Reach and Seize Memory is a collaborative work that features Edwards' English poetry translated into American Sign Language and performed by Deaf translator and actor Linda Cundy. She edited Ruth Mandel's poetic memoir How to Tell Your Children About the Holocaust.
Jannie Edwards taught creative writing and literature for over 25 years at Grant MacEwan College, where she coordinated the literary reading series and coordinated several multi-disciplinary student-faculty exhibitions. She continues to be active in the Edmonton arts community.
Awards
Arc Poem of the Year contest, 2003 (2nd): "Raven and the Birth of Tango" and "The Marriage Tango"Lapointe Prize, Acorn-Livesay People's Festival, 2000 (1 st): "An Old Woman Dreams of Sleep"
League of Canadian Poets Poetry Contest, 1997 (three poems in top 50) "Watching The Piano," "Granny Wolf Finds Her Voice," and "Habits"
Finalist and Editor's Choice - Arc Poem of the Year contest, 1996, 1998. "Holding Open" and "Water Ghazal"
Isabelle Miller Writing Award,(2nd) 1995, sponsored by Celebration of Women in the Arts, Edmonton "Read the Air"Isabelle Miller Writing Award (1st) 1997. "What to do when you lose a daughter"
Selected Publications
Dialogues (chapbook) (Greensleve Publishing, 1988
The Possibilities of Thirst (Rowan Books, 1997) ISBN: 1-895836-45-X
Engrams (video combining painting, poetry, and American Sign Language) Produced and Directed by Jannie Edwards and Rick Gustavsen
Blood Opera: The Raven Tango Poems (MacEwan Press, 2006) ISBN: 0-9780453-0-0
Falling Blues (forthcoming, Frontenac House Press, 2010)
Selected Anthologies
Our Fathers: Poetry and Prose by Daughters and Sons from the Prairies (Rowan Books, 1995) ISBN: 1-895836-10-7
Taking Off the Tinsel (Rowan Books, 1996)Vintage 97/98. (Quarry Press, 1998)
Waging Peace :Poetry and Political Action (Penumbra Press, 2002) ISBN: 1-894131-37-1
Letting Go: An Anthology of Loss and Survival (Black Moss Press, 2005) ISBN: 0-88753-393-0
Jane Austen Sings the Blues (University of Alberta Press, 2009) ISBN: 0-88864-510-4
Why I Sing the Blues (Smoking Lung Press, 2001) ISBN: 1-894442-01-6
Line by Line: An Anthology of Candian Poetry ( Ekstasis , 2002) ISBN: 1-896860-50-8
Reading poetry to workers at the Edmonton Waste Management plant as part of the first national annual Random Acts of Poetry.
