Betsy Warland

Betsy Warland (born 1946) is a Canadian feminist writer and the author of a dozen books of poetry, creative nonfiction, and lyrical prose.

Warland was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, in 1946.

She studied at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, before emigrating to Canada in 1972.

She became a significant figure in Canada's feminist writing scene after taking roles in various literary events and organizations.

She started the Toronto Women's Writing Collective (1973–1981), which hosted events, including co-hosting (with the Toronto Women's Bookstore) Writers in Dialogue, featuring Adrienne Rich, Nicole Brossard, May Sarton, Audrey Thomas, Margaret Atwood, and Marge Piercy.

She initiated and co-organized (with Victoria Freeman) the Women and Words/Les Femmes et les mots conference at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in 1983, which brought together 1,000 women working in all aspects of literature from across the country, and which was documented by the publication of the proceedings and of an anthology.

From 1986 to 1987 Warland was the executive director of the Federation of BC Writers, and she initiated Spring Rites, the annual competition for BC Writers.

Warland sat on the Special Council Committee of the Arts for the Vancouver City Council.

She designed the Writer's Studio program at Simon Fraser University in 2001 and served as its director until 2012, during which time she helped initiate the Thursdays Writing Collective in Vancouver's culturally rich but poverty-stricken Downtown Eastside.

She co-founded the Creative Nonfiction Collective with Myrna Kostash in 2004 and served on its board.

In 2007 she founded the Vancouver Manuscript Intensive program, for which she continues to serve as a director.

Warland has led workshops in the UK at the Poetry School (London), the Poetry Library (London), and the Arvon Foundation (Devon) and in Canada at Sage Hill, Booming Ground (UBC), the Metchosin International School of the Arts, Hollyhock and Simon Fraser University, among others.

An annual book award honoring Warland, the VMI Betsy Warland Between Genres Award, was launched in 2021.

Jordan Abel was the inaugural 2021 winner for his book, Nishga.

In 2022, the winning book was Remnants, written by Céline Huyghebaert and translated by Aleshia Jensen.

The 2023 winner was Nicholas Dawson, with translator D.M. Bradford, for the book, House Within a House.

Warland's personal documents, interviews, photographs, and manuscripts have been acquired by the literary archives at Library and Archives Canada.

Much of Warland's literary output has been in the form of essays, memoirs, and poetry books relating to feminism, women's studies, and lesbian issues.

Her work has appeared in Canadian and international journals and anthologies.

She served on the National Council of the Writers' Union of Canada from 2009 to 2012.

Warland has worked with emerging writers for over 30 years as a teacher and editor.

She has mentored writers such as Jónína Kirton.

She is best known for her collection of essays, Breathing the Page: Reading the Act of Writing (2010).