Biography
Jenna Butler was born in Norwich, England in 1980, but has spent most of her life on the prairies of Western Canada. The varied landscapes of the prairies and mountains - their intense harshness and incredible richness - feature prominently in her poetry and fiction. Her work has garnered a number of awards, including the Canadian Authors Association Exporting Alberta Award and the James Patrick Folinsbee Prize, and has been produced by the CBC. Her poetry has appeared in literary journals, magazines, and anthologies across Canada, and she is the author of eight short collections of poetry, in addition to a recent trade collection from NeWest Press, Aphelion. A second trade collection, Wells, is forthcoming.
Butler is a member of the League of Canadian Poets and the Canadian Authors Association. She has participated in many League events over the years, including readings, judging writing competitions, Random Acts of Poetry and mentorship programs for young poets. She was the League's inaugural Online Poet in Residence in January of 2007.
Closer to home, Butler was a board member for the Edmonton Poetry Festival in both its inaugural year, 2006, and again in 2008/09. She has performed her work widely, both on the air and onstage, for audiences in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She sits on the editorial committee for Edmonton's Olive Reading Series, where she also serves as Treasurer, and is the Founding Editor of Rubicon Press. In 2011, she joined the Board of Directors of NeWest Press.
Butler holds Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education degrees (distinction) from the University of Alberta, in addition to a Master's degree in Creative Writing: Poetry (distinction) and a PhD in Creative and Critical Writing (Contemporary Western Canadian Poetics) from Europe's most renowned creative writing school, the University of East Anglia (UEA).
Jenna Butler makes her home in Edmonton, Alberta, where she teaches Creative Writing and Literature at Grant MacEwan University. She divides her time between Canada and England in order to remain active in both literary communities, to teach, and to promote the international work of Rubicon Press.