Hands on: Barbara Nickel

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Barbara Nickel’s fingertips on ends of pages as she flipped between poems marked by large post-its. As she stuck and unstuck the post-its while she pre-ambled the poems.

Barbara’s fingers as she raced over to Margaret Laurence’s angel* and slipped them into the angel’s papier-mache ones when asked to pose for this portrait.

And, more distantly, the idea of Barbara’s fingers on the bow of a violin, suggested by her "Sestina for a Sweater." Which was the second poem she read last night.

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Barbara Nickel’s second collection of poetry, Domain (House of Anansi), was listed in Quill and Quire’s Best Books of 2007. Her previous collection of poetry, The Gladys Elegies, won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. Her work has appeared in numerous literary magazines and anthologies, including Notre Dame Review, Prairie Schooner, Poetry Ireland Review, The Malahat Review, The New Canon: An Anthology of Canadian Poetry, and The Walrus, and she is a winner of The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize. Barbara is also an award-winning author of books for children; her novel Hannah Waters and the Daughter of Johann Sebastian Bach was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and won the B.C. Book Prize. A new picture book in verse is forthcoming in 2013. She lives and writes in Yarrow, B.C.


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Aqua Books has a prop from the film version of The Stone Angel, produced by Winnipeg's Buffalo Gal Pictures. Apparently, four angels were produced for the film.