For the second time University of Guelph ecology professor Madhur Anand is a finalist for the Trillium Book Award for poetry.
Her book Parasitic Oscillations, a poetry collection was shortlisted for the 2023 prize. In 2016 her book A New Index for Predicting Catastrophes was a finalist.
“The Trillium Book Award for Poetry is Ontario’s highest literary honour, so I am obviously thrilled by this news,” said Anand, in a press release.
She said Parasitic Oscillations is a personal book about ambiguous grief. The book is Anand’s second collection of poetry, and third book overall.
Anand uses her experiences in both science and art as a person who is living between North American and Indian cultures, the release said.
“My work crosses divides between art and science on the one hand, and colonial histories and anti-colonial futures on the other,” she said in the release. “I believe the pathways through our environmental crises will need to weave together different cultures and disciplines.”
Parasitic Oscillations was named a Globe and Mail Top 100 Book, a CBC top pick for spring 2022 and one of 14 essential Canadian reads for Earth Day, said in the release.
The Trillium Book Award recognizes work by English and French writers in Ontario. The award was established in 1987.
It honours written work from all genres and it seeks to increase public awareness of diversity and quality of Ontario’s writers and writing.
The award recipient will be announced on June 20.