Priscila Uppal

Priscila Uppal FRSC (October 30, 1974 – September 5, 2018)^[1] was a Canadian poet, novelist, fiction writer, and playwright.^[1] Her poetry addressed various social issues regarding "women, violence, sexuality, culture, religion, illness and loss."^[1]

Key Information

Priscila Uppal FRSC
Born	(1974-10-30)October 30, 1974 Ottawa, Ontario
Died	September 5, 2018(2018-09-05) (aged 43) Toronto, Ontario
Occupation(s)	Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Professor
Academic background
Alma mater	York University (BA. Hons; Ph.D) University of Toronto (MA)
Academic work
Discipline	English studies
Institutions	York University
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Uppal was born in Ottawa, Ontario, she graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1993. She earned her Honours Bachelor of Arts from York University in 1997, a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from York University in 2004.^[2] Following graduation, she was a professor in the Department of English at York University in Toronto and taught literature and creative writing.^[3]

In 2007, her book of poetry Ontological Necessities was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize.^[4] Uppal's poetry collection Pretending to Die (2001) was shortlisted for the ReLit Award,^[1] and her memoir Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction in 2013.^[5] She served as the first poet-in-residence for the Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament in 2011.^[6] She was also the Olympic poet-in-residence at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 London Summer Olympics.^[7] As a result of her role as the poet-in-residence for the London Summer Olympics, she was dubbed "Canada's coolest poet" by Time Out London magazine.^[7] Uppal also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016.^[8]

Uppal died of synovial sarcoma on September 5, 2018^[9] after being diagnosed with the disease three years prior.^[1]

Uppal became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016.^[8]

• How to Draw Blood From a Stone, Exile Editions, Ltd. 1998. ISBN 978-1-55096-230-7.
• Confessions of a Fertility Expert, Exile Editions, Ltd. 1999. ISBN 978-1-55096-550-6.
• Pretending to Die, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2001. ISBN 978-1-55096-519-3.
• Live Coverage, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2003. ISBN 978-1-55096-571-1.
• Cover Before Striking, Lyricalmyrical Press, 2004, ISBN 978-0-9736588-4-2
• Holocaust Dream, MacLaren Arts Centre, 2005, ISBN 978-0-9693555-9-5 (photographs by Daniel Ehrenworth)
• Ontological Necessities, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2003. ISBN 978-1-55096-045-7.
• Traumatology, Exile Editions, 2010, ISBN 978-1-55096-139-3
• Winter Sport: Poems, Mansfield Press, 2010, ISBN 978-1-894469-49-4
• Successful Tragedies, Bloodaxe Books, 2010, ISBN 978-1-85224-860-4

• The Divine Economy of Salvation, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2002, ISBN 978-1-56512-365-6; Doubleday Canada, 2003, ISBN 978-0-385-65805-8
• To Whom It May Concern, Doubleday Canada, 2009, ISBN 978-0-385-65993-2
• Cover Before Striking, Dundurn Press, 2015, ISBN 978-1-459-72952-0

• We Are What We Mourn, McGill–Queen's University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-7735-3456-8
• Projection, Dundurn Press, 2013, ISBN 978-1-77102-274-3

• The Exile Book of Canadian Sports Stories, Exile Editions, 2010, ISBN 978-1-55096-125-6
• The Exile Book of Poetry in Translation: Twenty Canadian Poets Take on the World, Exile Editions, 2009, ISBN 978-1-55096-122-5
• Barry Callaghan: Essays on his Works, Guernica, 2007, ISBN 978-1-55071-253-7
• Uncommon Ground: A Celebration of Matt Cohen – 2002 (edited with Graeme Gibson, Wayne Grady, and Dennis Lee)
• Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets, Mansfield Press, 2004, ISBN 978-1-894469-16-6 (edited with Rishma Dunlop)

• Alphabet City 11: Trash
• Body Language: A Head to Toe Anthology
• Certain Things About My Mother: Daughters Speak
• In the Dark: Stories from the Supernatural
• Larger Than Life
• Mentor's Canon: poems about / for / after writers
• New Canadian Poetry
• Writer's Gym

• What Linda Said^[11]

Archives at
Location Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections  Identifiers F0237  Source digital description
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