Canadian Poets Series #36 : Beatriz Hausner

Of She Who Lies Above, her latest poetry collection, the critic, Michael Löwy has said: “Haunted by the ghosts of Greek tragedy, Romanticism, Surrealism and Latin-American poetry, Beatriz Hausner [photo credit: Maria Vega] forges a world all her own, a unique alchemical fusion of sensuality and spirituality, eroticism and irony, red quicksilver and green sulfur." The Chilean-Canadian author has several poetry collections to her name, including The Wardrobe Mistress (2003), Sew Him Up (2010), Enter the Raccoon (2012), Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart (2020) as well as many limited edition chapbooks, most recently The Oh Oh. Her books have been published internationally and translated into several languages, including her native Spanish, French, and most recently Greek. The Secret Life of Plants is a recent example of the collaborative work she does with visual and performance artists. Beatriz Hausner writes extensively about surrealism and her translations of Spanish American surrealist poets have exerted an important influence on her own writing. Hausner edited three issues of Open Letter, was Editor in chief of Ellipse magazine, was poetry editor of Exile Quarterly, and Exile Editions and is the literary editor of Someone Editions. Her advocacy for Canadian writers is exemplified in past positions as President of the Literary Translators’ Association of Canada, Chair of the Public Lending Right Commission, and publisher of Quattro Books. For many years, Hausner supported her writing working as public librarian. Her principal interest in her profession lies in Book History and Print Culture, including bibliography, topics that overlap with her literary writing. She lives in Toronto where she publishes The Philosophical Egg, an organ of living surrealism, and, with Russell Smith, runs the lecture series Soluble Fish. Though always a bit behind with its upkeep, Beatriz Hausner’s website does provide evidence of her activities, as do her Instagram and Facebook pages.