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Joan Shillington
http://www.joanshillington.com
Joan was born and raised in Edmonton and moved to Calgary with her husband and five children in 1985. The thought of being a writer never entered her mind although she won second place in the Alberta Kiwanis Short Story Contest in grade 11 and wrote the clues to scavenger hunts and hidden presents in verse for her children.
In 1988, she decided her poems could be better and, wondering how to improve, took a Beginner Poetry Workshop at the Alexandra Writers’ Centre on Saturday in May. She was hooked and began studying poetry at AWCS for the next two years. In January 2000, Joan began a two year journey studying “Creative Writing and Literature” with Richard Harrison at Mount Royal College where the seeds for her book Revolutions were planted.
She has attended Booming Ground, Sage Hill, Victoria Writer’s School, Rivendell and each sprin participates in Patrick Lane’s March Poetry Retreat. In the fall of 2005, her poetry journey came full circle when she taught a six week Beginner’s Poetry Course at the Alexandra Writer’s Centre.
Joan has been published in Room of One’s Own, Freefall magazine, and University of Calgary’s anthology, Writing the Terrain. Her poems are also included in five chapbooks edited by Patrick Lane.
Awards
Warren Keith Poetry Prize, Green’s Magazine, 2000, short-listed
First Prize, Poetry & Fiction Contest, Freefall Magazine, 2003
Second Prize, Poetry & Fiction Contest, Freefall Magazine, 2009, co-recipient
