Marya Fiamengo's first collection of poems, The Quality of Halves, was published in 1958 when the poet was thirty-one. Subsequent volumes, including Overheard at the Oracle (1969). Silt of Iron (1971), In Praise of Old Women (1976), North of the Cold Star (1978), Patience After Compline (1989) and White Linen Remembered (1996), have developed an increasingly personal voice and a deepening social engagement.

Fiamengo's poetic voice is always arresting and distinctive, blending the passion and lyricism of her ancestral language (Croatian) and mythos with the decorum, historical resonance, and moral commitments (to ideals of social justice in particular) of the British and Canadian traditions. She is a Canadian nationalist and a moderate feminist – also human, humorous, and frank.

Visible Living: Poems Selected and New presents a definitive selection of the best of her work, ranging from early writing to a large number of recent, previously unpublished verse. It enables readersto trace the development of Fiamengo's voice and concerns, from early work based on exploration of myth, to engagements with historical and political realities, to feminist pieces, to later elegies, to lyrics of highly personal statement on mortality and the divine, and confirms her achievement and status in the highest rank of Canadian poets.

Marya Fiamengo was born in 1926 in Vancouver, BC, the child of immigrants from the Croatian island of Vis. Complementing her Slavic roots is Fiamengo’s love for the English language. She earned a Master’s degree in English and Creative Writing from University of British Columbia under the direction of Earle Birney and Dorothy Livesay. She then taught in the English Department at UBC from 1962 to 1993, publishing seven volumes of poetry as well as numerous critical reviews and essays. Since the early 1970s, she has been a passionate advocate of Canadian cultural and national autonomy. She now lives in Gibsons, BC.

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