Lisa Robertson

Lisa Robertson was born on July 22, 1961, in Toronto, Canada. In 1984, she moved to Vancouver, Canada, to attend Simon Fraser University, but dropped out to become an independent bookseller. Around this time, she became involved with the literary collective, the Kootenay School of Writing. 

Robertson has written numerous books of poetry, fiction, and essays. Her collections of poetry include 3 Summers (Coach House Books, 2016); R’s Boat (University of California Press, 2010); The Men: A Lyric Book (BookThug, 2006); The Weather (New Star Books, 2001), winner of the ReLit Award for Poetry; and Debbie: An Epic (New Star Books, 1997), which was nominated for the Governor General’s Award in Canada. Her 2005 book, Lisa Robertson’s Magenta Soul Whip (Coach House), is an experimental work that collects verse written over fifteen years. It was named one of the New York Times’s 100 Notable Books of 2010, was long-listed for the 2011 Warwick Prize for Writing, and shortlisted for the 2010 ReLit Award for Poetry.

In 2017, Robertson won the inaugural C.D. Wright Award for Poetry. Robertson has been a visiting poet and lecturer at universities throughout the world, including the California College of the Arts, Cambridge University, University of California, Berkeley, Piet Zwart Institute in the Netherlands, and American University of Paris. She currently lives in France.