{"id":563,"date":"2012-06-15T19:35:07","date_gmt":"2012-06-15T19:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.ryerson.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/gillian-sze\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T19:16:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T00:16:10","slug":"sze_gillian","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/sze_gillian\/","title":{"rendered":"Gillian Sze"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Gillian Sze is a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She studied in Montreal where she earned a Master of Arts degree in creative writing at Concordia University in 2008. Her graduate thesis, a collection of poems based on visual art from a range of cultures, is entitled Tending Ice Gardens<\/em> and is the basis of Fish Bones<\/em>. Sze earned a Ph.D. in \u00c9tudes anglaises from Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al. In 2011, Sze won the Quebec Writers’ Federation’s 3Macs carte blanche<\/em> Prize<\/a> for her poem “Like This Together”.  With Rob Huynh, Sze launched an online journal, Branch Magazine,<\/a> to explore the relationship between visual and literary arts. Sze continues to live in Montreal where she teaches creative writing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry (Chapbook)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Allow Me to Conjugate<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Art by Roberutsu.
Montreal: WithWords Press, 2010.
(70 copies)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

The Anatomy of Clay<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: ECW Press, 2011.
PS8637.Z425 A63 2011<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Taking off from the Promethean myth of human creation, Gillian Sze\u2019s second poetry collection explores the \u201canatomy of clay\u201d and the individual as a sentient mystery. At times reflective, instructional, playful, or strange, the first section, Quotidianus, offers observational poems, which recount intimate and ordinary moments often missed, overlooked, or forgotten. Sze tugs at the fabric of habit and amidst the urban mundane finds her subjects in a woman waiting for the bus, a neighbour who talks to his plants, a girl smoking after a storm. The following section, Extimacy, takes a lyrical and confessional turn, veering inwards, dealing reflexively with the materiality of inner life: the self as ingredients, the self as experiment, the self as animal and artist. The Anatomy of Clay finds exceptions in the most prosaic conditions and the ineffable distinctions between people, selves, objects, and histories.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

Fish Bones<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: DC Books, 2009.
PS8637 .Z425 F57 2009<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

In her debut collection, Gillian Sze takes a random walk through the art museum and finds the drama of life framed in a series of powerful and precise artefact poems. Sze’s ekphrastic verse is unrelenting in its commitment to action. Each poem follows its own impetus, the origin of which is always a deeply felt encounter, whether aesthetic, familial, erotic, or exotic. Vacillating deftly between the suspended space-time of a museum exhibit and the charged urgency of the lives she imagines, Fish Bones is a collection at once stirring and arresting, tender and coolly true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2009 McAuslan First Book Award<\/a> (Quebec Writers’ Federation)–Shortlisted<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry (Chapbook)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fricatives<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kentville, N.S.: Gaspereau Press, 2016.
The Devil’s Whim Occasional Chapbook Series;  No. 30
Edition of 300 copies<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

An Orange, A Syllable<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: ECW Press, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

This prosimetrical work is a meditation on motherhood, language, and art. The central speaker witnesses the earliest utterances of her child and launches into a poetic inquiry of words themselves, asking, How to measure one\u2019s mouth by its words?<\/em> The speaker seeks an answer amidst the language that surrounds her \u2014 words misspoken, mispronounced, remembered, unwritten \u2014 and, in doing so, struggles with signification and significance.

Each prose poem in the five-part collection darts between the many meanings of \u201cfit\u201d \u2014 as in \u201ca sudden burst of emotion\u201d or \u201cto be the right size and shape,\u201d and the archaic \u201cfytte\u201d (a section of a poem). A text becomes an open mouth, a square day of a calendar, or a bare fragment of a narrative. The final section of the book is an intimate and ekphrastic engagement with the work of Danish painter Vilhelm Hammersh\u00f8i. Drawn to Hammersh\u00f8i\u2019s paintings of the empty rooms of his apartment, the speaker recognizes a familiar space of art\u2019s insistence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2025 A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry<\/a> (Quebec Writers’ Federation)(Winner)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

Panicle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: ECW Press, 2017.
PS8637 .Z425 P36 2017<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

In Panicle<\/em>, Gillian Sze makes her readers look and, more importantly, look again. It\u2019s a collection that challenges our notion of seeing as a passive or automatic activity by asking us to question the process<\/em> of looking. The book\u2019s first section, \u201cUnderway,\u201d deals with the moving image and includes both poetic responses to film theory and lyrical long poems while also reimagining fairy tales. The next section, \u201cStagings,\u201d takes its inspiration from the still image and explores a wide range of periods, movements, and media. Sze\u2019s focus on the process of looking anticipates \u201cGuillemets,\u201d a creative translation of Roland Gigu\u00e8re\u2019s 1966 chapbook, Pouvoir du Noir<\/em>, which contains a series of poems accompanied by his own paintings. Sze\u2019s approach to Gigu\u00e8re is two-fold: she \u201ctranslates\u201d his text, and artist Jessica Hiemstra provides a visual response to her translation. The final section, \u201cPanicle,\u201d continues the meditative quality of \u201cGuillemets\u201d in a suite of poems that ruminate on nature, desire, and history.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

Peeling Rambutan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kentville, N.S.: Gaspereau Press, 2014.
PS8637 .Z495 P44 2014<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

A poetic travelogue, Gillian Sze\u2019s Peeling Rambutan<\/em> meditates upon the rifts between immigrant parents and their Canadian-born children and the struggle of overlapping values which sometimes arises when we view the complexity of our heritage through the lens of the present. Rooted in Sze\u2019s first experience of Asia, these poems mingle the familiar spaces of her childhood home in Winnipeg with impressions of the distant villages of her parents\u2019 origins. The result is a complex exploration of the relationship between identity, place, and history. …<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry (Chapbook)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Tender Invention<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Art by Roberutsu.
Montreal: WithWords Press, 2008.
(Issued in two versions: one with colour ill., one with black and white ill.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Poetry (Chapbook)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This is the Colour I Love You Best<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Art by Roberutsu.
Montreal: WithWords Press, 2007.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mixed Format (Poetry and Prose)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Quiet Night Think: Poems & Essays<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: ECW Press, 2022.
e-book<\/a> (Access restricted to members of the university community)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

During the remarkable period of early parenthood, Sze\u2019s new maternal role urges her to contemplate her own origins, both familial and artistic. Comprised of six personal essays, poems, and a concluding long poem, Quiet Night Think<\/em> takes its title from a direct translation of an eighth-century Chinese poem by Li Bai, the subject of the opening essay. Sze\u2019s memory of reading Li Bai\u2019s poem as a child marks the beginning of an unshakable encounter with poetry. What follows is an intimate anatomization of her particular entanglement with languages and cultures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In her most generically diverse book yet, Sze moves between poetry and prose, mother and writer, the lyrical and the autobiographical, all the while inviting readers to meditate with her on questions of emergence and transformation: What are you trying to be? Where does a word break off? What calls to us throughout the night?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

2022 The Globe 100 (Globe and Mail<\/em>, 2 Dec. 2022)
2023 Pat Lowther Memorial Award<\/a> (League of Canadian Poets) (Finalist)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Mixed Format<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Redrafting Winter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Co-author: Alison Strumberger.
Ottawa: BuschekBooks, 2015.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Juvenile, Picture book)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I Drew a Heart<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illustrated by Naoko Stoop.
Little Brown Books for Young Readers, 2023.
forthcoming Dec. 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

A little boy spends the day drawing hearts\u2014wavy hearts, wiggly hearts, wide hearts and tiny hearts, broken hearts and polka-dotted hearts\u2014and each heart a reminder of a favorite memory: dancing, kite flying, first steps, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This poignant and lyrical book with vibrant illustrations celebrates a multigenerational family, creativity, and love.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Juvenile, Picture book)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Little Green Envelope<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illustrated by Claudine Crangle.
Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2023.
forthcoming August 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Olive\u2019s friend has moved away, and Olive wishes she could visit her. A little green envelope, lost in the bottom of the desk drawer, knows how Olive feels. It, too, wants so much to travel, and imagines zipping up and down conveyer belts and bouncing along in a mail bag, on its way to deliver an important letter. An old postcard reassures that for every occasion, there is an envelope \u2026 but it seems like it will never be the little green envelope\u2019s turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Olive\u2019s grandpa suggests writing her friend a letter, the little green envelope hopes and hopes that it will be chosen to carry the letter to its destination \u2014 but will it be a perfect fit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A diagram on the endpapers shows how readers can create their own little green envelopes!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Juvenile, Picture book)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

My Love for You is Always<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illustrated by Michelle Lee.
New York: Philomel Books, 2021.
PZ7.1.S94 M95 2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

What is love? <\/em>a child wonders. What does it feel like, smell like, taste like? How does it move? How long does it last?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as she prepares a traditional Chinese meal for her family, the child\u2019s mother replies: her love for him is rosy as wolfberries, warm like tea, sweeter than the red dates she puts in his soup. It shines through the water like its own brilliant sun. It goes round and round with no beginning and no end. Because a mother\u2019s love for a child is always there, warm and soft, broad and tender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this tender story that pairs beautifully poetic words with brilliantly stunning art, a mother\u2019s love comes alive on the page and wraps readers in its warm embrace.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Juvenile, Board book)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Night is Deep and Wide<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illustrated by Sue Todd.
[Victoria]: Orca Book Publishers, 2021.
PZ7.1.S94 N54 2021<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Stunning illustrations complement this poetic lullaby that encourages young readers to rest their heads and be soothed to sleep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Juvenile, Board book)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When Sunlight Tiptoes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illustrated by Soyeon Kim.
Victoria: Orca Book Publishers, 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

On a beautiful, sunny morning, a family runs errands along a city street. They visit a bakery, flower shop and fruit market. Exuberant in sounds and sights\u2014a baker sugaring tarts, flowers greeting passers-by and pigeons cooing\u2014the story ends as a new day of sparkling possibility begins. Written in pantoum form and illustrated with delightful three-dimensional diorama images that play with light and shadow, When Sunlight Tiptoes <\/em>is sure to brighten the day of our littlest readers.
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Fiction (Juvenile, Picture book)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You Are My Favorite Color<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Illustrated by Nina Mata.
New York: Philomel Books, 2022.
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Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

When you ask me why your skin is brown,<\/em>
I will tell you that you are my favorite color.<\/em>
I will say that your skin was decided long, long ago.<\/em>
Time was just waiting for you.<\/em>
  
So begins a mother\u2019s celebration of her children\u2019s brown skin, told through warm and vivid poetry. With sweeping descriptions of what brown skin means\u2014it is the brawny bear whose paws know the ground of its home, the sequoia tree that reaches up and touches the sun, the glossy shell of roasted chestnuts\u2014this is a book that empowers as it embraces, and that reminds young readers that they have shades of color that only they can discover and express.
 
With beautiful, lyrical text by powerhouse poet Gillian Sze and vibrant, engaging art by illustrator Nina Mata, the #1 New York Times<\/em> bestselling illustrator of LeBron James\u2019s I Promise<\/em>, this is more than a story of love\u2014it is a song that rings out for brown kids everywhere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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

Sze, Gillian.  “Gillian Sze.” 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, 157-163.
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

Sze’s personal website<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interview “Ten Questions with Gillian Sze” with Clelia Scala from Open Book Toronto<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Publisher ECW Press<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Gaspereau Press<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Hachette Book Group<\/a>, publisher of the Little, Brown Books for Young Readers imprint <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Orca Book Publishers<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Penguin Random House<\/a>, publisher of the Philomel Books imprint<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Illustrator Roberutsu<\/a> (Rob Huynh) website<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author Profile by Cassandra Drudi in Quill & Quire<\/a> website, posted 6 April 2022<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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Gillian Sze is a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba. She studied in Montreal where she earned a Master of Arts degree in creative writing at Concordia University in 2008. Her graduate thesis, a collection of poems based on visual art from … 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-563","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563","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=563"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21633,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/563\/revisions\/21633"}],"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=563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}