Focus
Poetry
Special Interests
A partnership building confidence in one’s poetic power.
Brief Bio
stephanie roberts is a Quebec-based poet with Canadian, Panamanian, and American citizenship. Beginning as a self-published author, roberts has been widely featured in publications such as POETRY Magazine, The New Quarterly, EVENT Poetry & Prose, New York Quarterly Books, and Crannóg Magazine to name a few. Previously a QWF poetry mentor, she has served as a CBC poetry prize reader and a writer-in-residence for EDLD/Dentro La Terra in Abruzzo, Italy. In 2021, she was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts grant in support of a forthcoming poetry collection. rushes from the river disappointment (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2020) was an A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry finalist. She is the first place winner of The Sixty-Four: Best Poets of 2018 (Black Mountain Press, 2019).
Services Offered
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- • Manuscript evaluation: Proofreading, detailed timely feedback reports focused on effective word choice, strength of narrative, internal consistency, central metaphor, and concept.
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- • Application feedback: Grants, writer-in-residency programs, and MFA applications; formulation of strong statements of intent, artist’s statements, project synopses.
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- • Mentoring: Guidance in attaining traditional publication or self-publication and the pros and cons of each; suggested readings for emerging poets; respecting the voice and form of your work, I can guide you to appropriate publishing calls; long-term and short-term career counselling.
- • Available for generative workshops.
Testimonials
For over four years now, stephanie and I have been editing each other’s work, i.e. exchanging sheaves of poems and then talking (and talking and talking): sometimes in-person, sometimes on the phone. Her feedback on my drafts has improved them immensely: her attention to image, line-break, and the energy of a poem, and what my poem is trying to do (but hasn’t done yet): she has always pointed out what’s working and what’s not, all the while giving me the reasoning behind her comments. We start a feedback session—then zip, an hour or two has gone by, and my pages are covered with ticks and possible rephrasings. For the working poet, that is the definition of gold.”
I highly recommend stephanie roberts as a writing coach. With her guidance, I completed a chapbook of poems. She urged me to get at the core and goal of each poem and rewrites led to deeper more layered work using precise evocative language. She also helped with the selection of poems and overall journey of the collection. stephanie built on my strengths, encouraged my voice while making me aware of my weaknesses. I learned to be more vulnerable in the work and patient with myself, to let it evolve. As a role model, stephanie is a powerhouse: she never stops writing and moving on to the next project with incredible focus and creativity.
—Barb Kelly, emerging poet, retired theatre professor (Dawson College)
To contact stephanie roberts, click on the envelope icon that appears when you hover over her photo on the main page, or write to stephanie roberts by email.
