Priscila Uppal Explained

Priscila Uppal
Honorific Suffix:	FRSC
Birth Date:	30 October 1974
Birth Place:	Ottawa, Ontario
Death Place:	Toronto, Ontario
Occupation:	Poet, Novelist, Playwright, Professor
Alma Mater:	York University (BA. Hons; Ph.D) University of Toronto (MA)
Discipline:	English studies
Workplaces:	York University

Priscila Uppal FRSC (October 30, 1974 – September 5, 2018) was a Canadian poet, novelist, fiction writer, and playwright. Her poetry addressed various social issues regarding "women, violence, sexuality, culture, religion, illness and loss."

Personal life and career

Uppal was born in Ottawa, Ontario, she graduated from Hillcrest High School in 1993. She earned her Honours Bachelor of Arts from York University in 1997, a Master of Arts degree in English from the University of Toronto, and a Ph.D. from York University in 2004.^[1] Following graduation, she was a professor in the Department of English at York University in Toronto and taught literature and creative writing.^[2]

In 2007, her book of poetry Ontological Necessities was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize.^[3] Uppal's poetry collection Pretending to Die (2001) was shortlisted for the ReLit Award,^[4] and her memoir Projection: Encounters with My Runaway Mother was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction in 2013.^[5] She served as the first poet-in-residence for the Rogers Cup Tennis Tournament in 2011.^[6] She was also the Olympic poet-in-residence at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Games and the 2012 London Summer Olympics.^[7] As a result of her role as the poet-in-residence for the London Summer Olympics, she was dubbed "Canada's coolest poet" by Time Out London magazine. Uppal also became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016.^[8]

Uppal died of synovial sarcoma on September 5, 2018^[9] after being diagnosed with the disease three years prior.

Awards and honours

Uppal became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2016.

Awards for Uppal's writing!Year!Title!Award!Result!Ref.

2001	Pretending to Die	ReLit Award	Shortlist
2007	Ontological Necessities	Griffin Poetry Prize	Shortlist
2013	Projection	Governor General's Award for English-language non-fiction	Shortlist	^[10]
2013	Projection	Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction	Shortlist

Bibliography

Poetry

• How to Draw Blood From a Stone, Exile Editions, Ltd. 1998. .
• Confessions of a Fertility Expert, Exile Editions, Ltd. 1999. .
• Pretending to Die, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2001. .
• Live Coverage, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2003. .
• Cover Before Striking, Lyricalmyrical Press, 2004,
• Holocaust Dream, MacLaren Arts Centre, 2005, (photographs by Daniel Ehrenworth)
• Ontological Necessities, Exile Editions, Ltd. 2003. .
• Traumatology, Exile Editions, 2010,
• Winter Sport: Poems, Mansfield Press, 2010,
• Successful Tragedies, Bloodaxe Books, 2010,

Fiction

• The Divine Economy of Salvation, Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2002, ; Doubleday Canada, 2003,
• To Whom It May Concern, Doubleday Canada, 2009,
• Cover Before Striking, Dundurn Press, 2015,

Non-fiction

• We Are What We Mourn, McGill–Queen's University Press, 2009.
• Projection, Dundurn Press, 2013,

Anthologies (as editor)

• The Exile Book of Canadian Sports Stories, Exile Editions, 2010,
• The Exile Book of Poetry in Translation: Twenty Canadian Poets Take on the World, Exile Editions, 2009,
• Barry Callaghan: Essays on his Works, Guernica, 2007,
• Uncommon Ground: A Celebration of Matt Cohen – 2002 (edited with Graeme Gibson, Wayne Grady, and Dennis Lee)
• Red Silk: An Anthology of South Asian Canadian Women Poets, Mansfield Press, 2004, (edited with Rishma Dunlop)

Anthologies (as contributor)

• Alphabet City 11: Trash
• Body Language: A Head to Toe Anthology
• Certain Things About My Mother: Daughters Speak
• In the Dark: Stories from the Supernatural
• Larger Than Life
• Mentor's Canon: poems about / for / after writers
• New Canadian Poetry
• Writer's Gym

Plays

• What Linda Said^[11]

Notes and References

1. Web site: 24 May 2018 . Priscila Uppal . 2019-03-08 . Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies . . 2019-03-06 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190306031536/http://profiles.laps.yorku.ca/profiles/puppal/ . live .
2. Web site: Priscila Uppal | Canadian Writers in Person . 2011-07-27 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120326140759/http://cwip.artmob.ca/contributors/priscilla-uppal . 2012-03-26 .
3. Web site: Priscila Uppal . 2023-05-21 . Griffin Poetry Prize . en-US . 2023-03-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230324085510/https://griffinpoetryprize.com/poet/priscila-uppal/ . live .
4. Web site: Davis . Charlene . Mcintosh . Andrew . 2018-09-07 . Priscila Uppal . 2023-05-20 . . 2019-02-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190215050317/https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/priscila-uppal . live .
5. News: Carter . Sue . October 15, 2014 . Naomi Klein wins Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize . . September 5, 2018 . September 5, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180905215041/https://quillandquire.com/awards/2014/10/15/naomi-klein-wins-hilary-weston-writers-trust-prize/ . live .
6. Web site: Priscila Uppal Asian Heritage in Canada. en-US. 2019-03-07. 2019-03-08. https://web.archive.org/web/20190308002928/https://library.ryerson.ca/asianheritage/authors/uppal/. live.
7. Web site: Poet Priscila Uppal dies at 43 — 'a genuine spirit is gone' The Star. thestar.com. 5 September 2018. en. 2019-03-07. 2019-04-16. https://web.archive.org/web/20190416135021/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/2018/09/05/poet-priscila-uppal-dies-at-44-a-genuine-spirit-is-gone.html. live.
8. Web site: Prof. Priscila Uppal elected as Fellow to Royal Society of Canada . York University . September 9, 2014 . February 14, 2019 . September 15, 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150915160706/http://yfile.news.yorku.ca/2014/09/09/prof-priscila-uppal-elected-as-fellow-to-royal-society-of-canada/ . live .
9. Web site: Priscila Uppal, Canadian poet, dead at 43 . September 5, 2018 . September 5, 2018 . . September 6, 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180906015058/https://www.cbc.ca/books/priscila-uppal-canadian-poet-dead-at-44-1.4811402 . live .
10. Web site: Past GGBooks winners and finalists . 2021-11-27 . Governor General's Literary Awards . en . 2021-04-21 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210421134720/https://ggbooks.ca/past-winners-and-finalists . live .
11. Web site: What Linda Said. Summerworks Performance Festival. en-CA. 2019-03-08. 2018-11-12. https://web.archive.org/web/20181112230909/http://summerworks.ca/artists/what-linda-said/. live.