Erian, Soraya
Biography
Soraya Erian is a writer and artist who teaches English at Mohawk College, Hamilton. Born in Egypt into a distinguished Coptic family, she came to Canada as a graduate student, and has lived and worked here ever since. She has a B.A. from Cairo University, an M.A. from the University of Toronto and a Ph.D. from the University of Western Ontario. Her M.A. thesis explored the novels, poems, plays and travel writings of Lawrence Durrell. Her poems and drawings have been published in Canadian and American literary magazines, and she is a many-times winner of Best Poem awards from Cross-Canada Writers Quarterly from Triton College, Illinois, U. S. A. She is also a founding member of the Thursday Group writers' workshop in Toronto, and has been active in several Hamilton literary groups including the Literary Committee of the Hamilton and Region Arts Council. "[Her] finest poems express the forbidden, embrace opposites, reintegrate our fragments, cast spells of freedom and vivify our experience. "For a poet...it is never a matter of saying it is raining. It is a matter of.....making rain. Soraya Erian makes it rain." (from J. S. Porter. "A Poet Laureate for Hamilton." FORUM June/July 1986 p7) She is the possessor of one of the finest, happiest, most infectious and most problem - dissolving laughs the world around her has ever heard.
Awards/Recognitions
Hamilton and Region Arts Council Award 1993, best single poem category for"How the Universe Makes Love"
Other Information
Related Websites or Blogs
Soraya Erian's profile at writersunion.ca
Published Work
2007. Mystic Loon: a novel with 4 artworks. Ottawa: Borealis Press. (Fiction)
2005. The Jasmine Garden. Ottawa: Borealis Press. (Fiction)
2004. In the Eye of the Sun: A Prodigal Returns. Ottawa: Borealis Press. (Poetry)
2004. Were You My Ariel: A Song for Samira. Ottawa: Borealis Press. (Poetry)
1996. Ariadne’s Thread. Toronto: Childe Thursday. (Poetry)
1990. I’ve Been A Fish Before. Toronto: Childe Thursday. (Poetry)
1987. The World Is Everything I Am: Poems & Drawings. Hamilton: Image Publishing. (Poetry)
1987. The Death of Meleika Erian. Toronto: Childe Thursday. (Poetry)
1985. Earth Sphere. Toronto: Childe Thursday. (Poetry)
