A Book for Susan

Alexander Forbes received a PhD in English literature from the University of Toronto, where he taught before becoming a lecturer at the University of British Columbia and a professor at Thompson Rivers University. His poems, essays, and reviews have appeared in journals across North America including Canadian Literature, Mosaic, the Haight Ashbury Literary Journal, Frogpond, the Rocky Mountain Review and many others, and he is the author of two books of poems (After the Moon a Blue Ocean and Luminous Orange) as well as a novella (Oranges) and a collection of his poems paired with the works of the noted Canadian painter Tricia Sellmer (Rumours of Bees). Two of his biographies are included in The Dictionary of Literary Biography (Detroit: Gale), one in The University of Toronto Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto), and a memoir recording his friendship with the painter Germain Kalmykoff in Substack. His poems have also appeared in collections published by New Star (Vancouver), Anvil (Vancouver), and McFarland (Jefferson, North Carolina). One of his poems became the basis for a short ballet when selected in a competition in California, and two audiobook CDs of his poems were produced by Capitol Records Gold Record recipient Henry Small, who composed music for the poems. After receiving awards in audiobook, spoken word, and poetry competitions in the United States, one of the audiobooks was invited to be displayed in the awards section of the New York Book Fair. Alexander Forbes served for many years as Canadian Literature editor of Ultimate Reality and Meaning, a University of Toronto Press journal, and on the Board of the Federation of British Columbia Writers. He has given readings in both the United States and Canada and lives in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, where he is a member of the Church of the Nazarene.