Saskatchewan writer Bernadette Wagner's first book is examination (and cross-examination) of place, heart, politics, the socio-placement of women in the land and their quest for spiritual grace and worth. The poems tell of personal encounters with death, sexual assault, children, family, hard work, and a woman's transformation from a bad-luck existence into a meaningful new life. The book's trajectory is from young girl to wise crone and the poems are divided into these sections accordingly - Maiden, Mother, Crone. Detailed images of mundane family homes, farms, and yards act as backdrop to the human discourse and at times counterpoint the emotional politics and heaviness of a life weighed down with routine and questionable value. The insightful and powerful forces turned loose by the narrator stir all the emotional cul de sacs she experiences.

Bernadette Wagner, writer, editor, and community based educator, has recent work in Absent Mothers (DP: 2017) and Without Apology: Writings on Abortion in Canada (AUP: 2016). Her poetry and nonfiction have been broadcast on radio and TV, recorded on video and film, and published in magazines and anthologies. Shortlisted for the Saskatchewan First Book Award, she toured This hot place (Thistledown, 2010), her first poetry collection, across the country. An activist for social justice, a spokesperson for various feminist organizations, a founder of the Prairie Lily Feminist Society and Friends of Regina Public Library, a board member for the Saskatchewan Writers Guild and Sage Hill Writing Experience, a past Literary Co-ordinator and two-time Chair of the Cathedral Village Arts Festival, and the inaugural literary artist-in-residence at the Last Mountain Lake Cultural Centre, Bernadette lives in Regina, Saskatchewan.

Bernadette Wagner's profile page