{"id":558,"date":"2012-06-15T19:35:07","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T19:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.ryerson.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/carolyn-marie-souaid\/"},"modified":"2025-02-20T14:23:29","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T19:23:29","slug":"souaid","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/souaid\/","title":{"rendered":"Carolyn Marie Souaid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Carolyn Marie Souaid was born in and raised in Montreal, Quebec. She earned a teaching degree at McGill Univeristy and in 1995 an M.A. in English from Concordia University. Her thesis, “Hollow Grass,” is a collection of poetry about motherhood in the context of adoption. Souaid taught at the elementary and university levels, taught high school English to adult students, and has worked as a freelance journalist and magazine columnist. Her ancestral heritage is Lebanese.  In 2009 Souaid was one of the founding editors of Poetry Quebec<\/em>, an online review showcasing English-language poetry and poets of Quebec.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Blood is Blood<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Co-author: Endre Farkas.
Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2010.
PS8561 .A72 B56 2010<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accompanied by a 15-minute video-poem on DVD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Blood is Blood<\/em> is a powerful encounter between two poets, from diametrically opposed backgrounds, whose cultural and personal lives intersect, clash and confront the truths and fictions that have become the destructive reality of Jews and Arabs trying to co-exist.\u00a0 Although set in the troubled Middle East, its narrative speaks to tribal wars that have wreaked havoc around the globe: in Ireland, in the former Yugoslavia, in Russia, in Zimbabwe, and elsewhere.\u00a0 Endre Farkas, the child of Jewish Holocaust survivors, and Carolyn Marie Souaid, of Lebanese Christian descent, give this piece a special resonance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2011? ZEBRA International Poetry Film Festival, “Best Film for Tolerance” (Winner)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Eleventh Hour<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Victoria, BC: Ekstasis Editions, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In her much-anticipated eighth collection, Carolyn Marie Souaid distils the complex emergencies of the everyday with a keen eye, sharp ear and sure hand. Cycling through themes of aging, dying and the inescapable erosion of life, her poems are a poignant catalogue of finite moments, a nod to the \u201cinadequacy of the present\u201d and the \u201cincremental withdrawal\u201d of earthly things, peppered with insistent, eleventh-hour reminders that what ultimately matters is not the \u201cfinish line\u201d or the \u201cfinal performance\u201d of a career, but the human spirit \u201corbiting the nucleus of time.\u201d Whether it\u2019s the irony of the Exit sign on a crashed plane or the wind arriving in the nick of time to depose our received ideas of the world, these poems of the eleventh hour are bridges connecting life and death, where nothing and everything matters, the sayable and the unsayable, the necessary and the futile.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

October<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Winnipeg, Man.: Nuage Editions, 1999.
PS8587 .O87 O38 1999<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Includes some text in French. Reprinted by Signature Editions with a new cover image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (from the Signature Editions website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

October<\/em> spans three decades of Quebec life, chronicling one woman’s attempt to forge some kind of reconciliation between the “warring” cultures, to find the common ground of the French and the English. It is a personal, unabashed look at her own marriage to a French Quebecer which finds her straddling two worlds, two cultures, two very different mentalities. From start to end, echoes of the October Crisis are carefully woven into the text, a constant reminder that the fractious past is never very far behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

1999 or 2000 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry<\/a> (Quebec Writers’ Federation)(Nominated)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Paper Oranges<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Winnipeg, Man.: Signature Editions, 2008.
PS8587 .O87 P36 2008<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Paper Oranges<\/em> is a poetic response to Vladimir and Estragon, Beckett’s infamous pair, who pin their hopes on salvation that never arrives. It explores the notion of human existence as an extended wait characterized by quiet desperation, loneliness, suffering and the search for self. …

Using the metaphor of flight, these evocative poems examine how habit and daily routine, societal convention and moral obligation trap us in the emotional death of repetitive cycles. Perhaps the only truth in this random universe lies in the present moment. …<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Satie’s Sad Piano: A Long Poem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Winnipeg, Man.: Signature Editions, 2005.
PS8587 .O87 S28 2005<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Satie’s Sad Piano<\/em> is a long poem charting the convergent deaths of Pierre Elliott Trudeau, a love affair, and a fetus through the intersecting voices of an unlikely cast of characters\u2014among them Radio, Mont-Royal, a series of old love letters, and a modern-day apostle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2006 A.M. Klein Poetry Award<\/a> (Quebec Writers’ Federation) (Shortlisted)
2006 Pat Lowther Award (Shortlisted)
2005 or 2006  Mary Scorer Award for the Best Book by a Manitoba Publisher (Manitoba Book Awards)(Shortlisted)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Snow Formations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Winnipeg, Man.: Signature Editions, 2002.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Weary of her humdrum existence, a woman packs up and heads for Arctic Quebec, where she hopes to find a new lease on life teaching native children. She quickly discovers, however, that the Inuit have far more to teach her than she, them, as she slowly learns that each day on this earth is a rich sensory experience, not merely to be lived, but savoured. Loosely based on the author’s own three-year experience in settlements along the Hudson-Ungava coast, Snow Formations<\/em> takes a realistic look at the modern Inuit world through post-industrial eyes, always walking the fine line between idealism and cynicism, hope and despair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2003 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry<\/a> (Quebec Writers’ Federation)(Shortlisted)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Swimming Into the Light<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Montreal: Nuage Editions, 1995.
PS8587 .O87 S95 1995<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (from the Signature Editions website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Swimming into the Light <\/em>is a sequence of poems charting a woman’s struggle with infertility and her entry into motherhood through the back door of international adoption. The book traces these events in a connected narrative, from her frustration and despair over infertility to the uncertainty of international adoption and rescuing a new life from a war-torn country, and finally to the quiet reflections on motherhood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

1995 or 1996 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry (Quebec Writers’ Federation) (Nominated)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This Side of Light: Selected Poems (1995-2020)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2022.
PS8587.O87 A6 2022<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This Side of Light<\/em> is Carolyn Marie Souaid’s ninth book of poetry. Selected and introduced by Governor General award-winning poet Arleen Pare, this timely volume celebrates the evolution and scope of Souaid’s work over a 25-year period–from the early titles focused on human connectedness and the difficult bridging of worlds, to more recent ones exploring themes of aging, loss, letting go, and the vulnerability of life. Praised for her bold experiments with the long poem, Souaid is known for her evocative imagery, “surprising lyric twists” (Event<\/em>) and “sudden illuminations on the rim of our consciousness” (Rover Montreal<\/em>), and has been described by P.K. Page as having a “dark and powerful voice.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This World We Invented<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

London, ON: Brick Books, 2015.
PS8587 .O87 T47 2015<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The world in Carolyn Marie Souaid\u2019s latest collection is both an act of the imagination and a responsibility. Souaid\u2019s poems zoom in and out, shifting focus to accommodate varied dimensions of experience. We move from the breakdown of a relationship to primordial ooze to a suicide bomb to a son doing his math homework. In a disarmingly personable voice, Souaid investigates our darker moments, faces up to losses and failures both intimate and public, often with wry humour. If our world is an imperfect invention, it is also, for Souaid, a source of wonder\u2014 where \u201cthe trick was not to fall asleep but to notice everything \/ in its brevity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Looking for Her<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Montreal: Baraka Books, 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Cate, 43, is a university professor in an unfulfilling marriage. When Nuna, the young Inuk woman she mentors, disappears, Cate and her new friend, Isabel, 28, set out on a journey to find her. On the road, their friendship is tested, Nuna remains elusive, and Cate must contend with her ever-demanding husband who wants her to come home. As lead after lead falls through and the search reaches a critical impasse, Cate makes an important decision to stop living for others and finally live life on her own terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Set in Montreal, Ottawa and Nunavik, Looking for Her<\/em> explores the intersecting lives of three women in search of themselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Yasmeen Hadad Loves Joanasi Maqaittik<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Montreal: Baraka Books, 2017.
PS8587 .O87 Y37 2017<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Yasmeen\u2019s tradition-bound mother wants her to stay in Montreal, get married, and have babies. But the young Syrian-Canadian wants more. Her appetite for adventure leads her to a teaching job in the northern Quebec village of Saqijuvik. Eager to adopt her new home and its Inuit inhabitants, Yasmeen embraces every experience that comes her way: camping on the tundra, hunting for ptarmigan, sewing with the local women. She plunges into her northern adventure, no holds barred.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s 1983 and instead of the ideal, pristine Arctic Yasmeen imagined, she uncovers a contradictory world of igloos and pool halls, Sedna and Jesus, raw caribou and alcohol. In the middle of everything is Joanasi, a beautiful but volatile man who leads her into territory that is almost as unsettling as the land itself.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anthology<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Closer to Home: The Author and the Author Portrait<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

TR681 .A85 B97 2008<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Byrnes, Terence. “Carolyn Marie Souaid in the Courtyard of a Pub.” In Byrnes, Terence. Closer to Home: The Author and the Author Portrait<\/em>. Montr\u00e9al: V\u00e9hicule Press, 2008, 48-49.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Selected Criticism and Interpretation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Souaid, Carolyn Marie. “Carolyn Marie Souaid.” Interview with Poetry Quebec<\/em>, reprinted. Language Matters: Interviews with 22 Quebec Poets<\/em>. Ed. by Carolyn Marie Souaid & Endre Farkas. Winnipeg: Signature Editions, 2013, 181-190.
PS8295.5 .Q8 L35 2013<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Links<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Baraka Books<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Brick Books<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Ekstasis Editions<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Signature Editions<\/a> ; includes excerpts from the works<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website for Blood is Blood<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Carolyn Marie Souaid was born in and raised in Montreal, Quebec. She earned a teaching degree at McGill Univeristy and in 1995 an M.A. in English from Concordia University. Her thesis, “Hollow Grass,” is a collection of poetry about motherhood … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-558","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=558"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/558\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19663,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/558\/revisions\/19663"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}