Sawdust Presents Dane Swan and Susan J. Atkinson

The Sawdust Reading Series is extremely proud to be hosting Toronto poet Dane Swan and our newest contest winner, Susan J. Atkinson. Come out for a fantastic night of great poetry, affordable food and drink, and good company. Look for us upstairs. Don't forget your poems for the open mic!

Also keep your eyes peeled for the Sawmill Workshop Dane will be running that night at 5 pm. More info available on the Sawdust page!

Dane Swan

Dane Swan is a Bermuda born, Jamaican heritage writer based in Toronto. He is a past Writer in Residence for Open Book Toronto, and has been short listed for the Monica Ladell Award (Scarborough Arts). His first book, “Bending the Continuum,” (Guernica Editions, 2011) was a mid-summer recommended read by Open Book Toronto. Dane's second book, “A Mingus Lullaby,” (Guernica Editions) is in stores now, and has been described by Quill and Quire as a collection of poems that, “...succeed in negotiating tensions between language and action, thought and potential, while also recognizing that the most productive impulses frequently result from chaos or oppression...”

An accomplished slam poet, Dane has placed second at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, and third at the Rust Belt Regional Slam. He has read alongside Lawrence Hill, George Elliott Clarke, Goran Sumic, Priscila Uppal, Gianna Patriarca, and spoken-word stars including Shayne Koyczan, Dwayne Morgan, and Lillian Allen.

Susan J. Atkinson

Susan was born and raised in England, but now makes her home in Ottawa with her husband and four daughters. After thirteen years working in the Toronto film industry, she turned her passion for reading and writing into everyday life and now spends her days playing with rhythm and rhyme and making up stories and songs for her Grade 1 classroom. At night she writes poetry and co-writes with her film director husband. They have recently seen their first script produced into a made-for-TV movie, which aired in the summer of 2014.

She has had numerous poems published in both Canadian and U.S. journals. Some publications include: The Antigonish Review, The Dalhousie Review, Room of One’s Own, Bywords, The Pottersfield Portfolio, The White Wall Review (2011 and 1994), The Carleton Arts Review, Tower Poetry and Green’s Magazine.

She has also had several children’s poems published, with appearances in both Ladybug Magazine and Pockets and in 2015 was named one of Tree's Hot Ottawa Voices. One of her poems (half moon full) won first prize in The 2016 Carleton Literary Competition.