Media resources
These resources are for literary magazines and websites, interviewers, podcast hosts, and media outlets. If you need anything else, please contact Alice Major via her Contact page.
Schedule an interview with Alice Major or book her as a podcast guest
To schedule an interview with Alice, or book her as a guest on your show, please contact her via the contact page. In your message, provide the name of the publication or show, website, interviewer or host, purpose of the interview or guest appearance, and what you would like Alice to speak about. Contact.
Short bio
Alice Major is a Canadian poet, writer, and essayist, who has published 15 books, including 13 collections of poetry and a collection of essays on poetry and science. In August, 2026, her 15th book, Triangularity (University of Alberta Press), will be published. Her work has appeared in anthologies, journals, and magazines around the world, and she has presented papers at a number of conferences.
Major's work has received multiple awards, including Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award in 2017 and an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Alberta in 2019. She is past-president of both the Writers' Guild of Alberta and the League of Canadian Poets, former chair of the Edmonton Arts Council. She served a two-year term as the first poet laureate for the City of Edmonton in 2005, and founded the Edmonton Poetry Festival in 2006.
Major emigrated from Scotland at the age of eight, grew up in Toronto, Ontario, where she completed a BA (English, history) at the University of Toronto. She came to Edmonton, Alberta, in 1981. For more information about Alice Major, visit www.alicemajor.com/about.
Long bio
Alice Major is a Canadian poet, writer, and essayist, who has published 14 books, including 12 collections of poetry and a collection of essays on poetry and science, Intersecting Sets: A Poet Looks At Science. In August, 2026, her 15th book will be published, Triangularity (University of Alberta Press). Her first book was a prize-winning YA fantasy novel, The Chinese Mirror.
Major's work has also appeared in many magazines, journals, and anthologies, including the pieces "Sometimes You Have to Dig" published in Reimagining Fire: the future of Energy Durville and UpRoute Books, 2023; "We Have Elegies to Write" published in Locations of Grief: An Emotional Geography Wolsak & Wynn, 2020; and "Currents" published in Waiting: An Anthology of Essays. University of Alberta Press, 2018.
Major's work has received multiple awards, including Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist Award in 2017 and an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Alberta in 2019. She is Winner, Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Knife on Snow, 2024; Winner, Robert Kroetsch Award for Poetry (Book Publishers Association of Alberta), for Standard Candles, 2017; and Winner, National Magazine Award Gold Medal, for “The Ultraviolet Catastrophe” (included in Intersecting Sets: A Poet Looks at Science), 2012.
She is past-president of both the Writers' Guild of Alberta and the League of Canadian Poets, as well as former chair of the Edmonton Arts Council. In 2005, she was appointed to a two-year term as the first poet laureate for the City of Edmonton. During her tenure as poet laureate, she founded the Edmonton Poetry Festival in 2006.
Major lives in Edmonton, Alberta. She emigrated from Scotland at the age of eight, and grew up in Toronto, Ontario, and worked as a weekly newspaper reporter in central British Columbia before moving to Edmonton in 1981. She has a BA (English, history) from Trinity College, Toronto, at the University of Toronto. Her first book was a prize-winning YA fantasy novel.
For more information about Alice Major, visit www.alicemajor.com/about.
Photos of Alice Major
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Alice Major. Credit Shawna Lamay.
Alice Major and her dog Moose in their garden. Credit Shawna Lamay.
Alice Major receiving an honorary doctorate of letters from the University of Alberta in 2019.
Alice Major reading from her collection, Knife on Snow, in 2023. Credit Sheelagh Caygill.
Alice Major and Cadence Weapon in a promotional photo for the Edmonton Public Library.
Experience Alice Major's poems and essays
Audio and video clips of Alice reading her work
Alice Major's select podcast episodes
Alice Major guest hosts poet Marco Melfi and the discuss his debut poetry collection, Routine Maintenance (Gaspereau Press, 2025). Listen.
A Conversation on Fire. The Writers' Guild of Alberta Podcast - December 21, 2023
Alice Major, Hari Alluri, and Michelle Porter explore the literal and metaphorical significance of fire in a brilliant, wide-ranging reading and conversation. This episode is part of the Canadian Literature Centre's "Air and Fire" series of readings and converstions. Listen.
Sharon Batula: This Strange Visible Air. The Writers' Guild of Alberta Podcast - February 23, 2022
Alice Major interviews Sharon Butala, who also reads from her book, This Strange Visible Air: Essays on Aging and the Writing Life (Freehand Books, 2021). Listen.
Alice Major joins Ben Folds to speak about the creations of associations in our world and how words and language contain a sound and shape that can be played with and formed. They discuss how poetry isn’t just about the words, but the part as a whole and how it flows piece to piece. Listen.
Alice Major explores how reading poetry can make you a better writer, whether you’re a copywriter, content writer, essayist, or journalist. Listen.