Winner of the 2018 Archibald Lampman Award
A charm can protect, inflict or influence. Charm, the second collection by poet Christine McNair, considers the craftwork of conception from a variety of viewpoints--from pregnancy and motherhood, to how an orchid is pollinated, to overcoming abusive relationships, to the manual artistry of carving a violin bow or marbling endpapers.
Through these poems, McNair's poetic line evolves as if moving in a spellbound kaleidoscope, etched with omens, fairytales, intimacy's stickiness, and the mothering body.

Christine McNair was born on June 6, 1978, (the sixth day of the sixth month at six-fifty-six.) She completed a BA (Hons) from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, with a major in English Literature and a minor in Art History. She also completed a Master’s degree in Conservation Studies (Books and Library Materials) at West Dean College in the UK. Besides being a writer, McNair works full time at the Canadian Conservation Institute in Ottawa, in a special agency of the Department of Heritage, as a book “doctor” or Conservator. Conflict is her first book.

Christine McNair's profile page

• Winner, Archibald Lampman Award