Erina Harris is one of those poets who only brings out collections occasionally, but when they do come out they’re stunning. In Trading Beauty Secrets with the Dead, Harris works with Victorianism, fairy tales, children’s literature, mythology and feminist literary history to ask important questions of gender, of queerness, of misogyny and of the role of art in social change. These are brilliant, innovative poems, where Harris displays an exceptional mastery of both traditional and experimental forms to examine versions of our endangered future. Vibrant, disruptive and always questioning, Harris invites us all to upend tradition and engage deeply with the modern world.

Erina Harris is a Canadian writer, educator and mentor. Her first book, The Stag Head Spoke (Buckrider Books, 2014), was shortlisted for the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry. A graduate and Fellow of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, her work has been published widely, translated and awarded multiple prizes including international residencies. She lives and teaches in Edmonton, Alberta.

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