Jaclyn Desforges is the queer and neurodivergent author of Danger Flower (Palimpsest Press/Anstruther Books), winner of the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry and one of CBC's selections for the best Canadian poetry of 2021. She's also the author of Why Are You So Quiet? (Annick Press, 2020), a picture book which was shortlisted for a Chocolate Lily Award and selected for the 2023 TD Summer Reading Club. She is a Pushcart-nominated writer and the winner of several prizes, including the 2018 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. Jaclyn was a finalist for the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize and the 2023 CRAFT Short Fiction Prize, and was longlisted for the 2024 Room Magazine Fiction Contest. Her writing has been featured in literary magazines across North America and her poetry will be going to space in fall of 2024 as part of the Lunar Codex project. Jaclyn recently served as the 2023/2024 Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer In Residence at McMaster University and Hamilton Public Library. She holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia’s School of Creative Writing and lives in Hamilton with her partner and daughter.

Full bio

JACLYN DESFORGES is the 2023/2024 Mabel Pugh Taylor Writer In Residence at McMaster University and Hamilton Public Library. She’s the queer and neurodivergent author of Danger Flower (Palimpsest Press), winner of the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry and one of CBC's picks for the best Canadian poetry of 2021. She's also the author of Why Are You So Quiet? (Annick Press, 2020), which was shortlisted for a Chocolate Lily Award and selected for the 2023 TD Summer Reading Club. Jaclyn is a Pushcart-nominated writer and the winner of the 2018 RBC/PEN Canada New Voices Award. Jaclyn was a finalist for the 2023 CBC Poetry Prize and the 2023 CRAFT Short Fiction Prize. Her writing has been featured in magazines across North America. Jaclyn's poetry will go to space this fall as part of the Lunar Codex project. She holds an MFA from the UBC’s School of Creative Writing.

150 words

Jaclyn Desforges is the queer and neurodivergent author of Danger Flower (Anstruther Books), winner of the 2022 Hamilton Literary Award for Poetry and one of CBC's selections for the best Canadian poetry of 2021. She's also the author of a picture book, Why Are You So Quiet? (Annick Press, 2020).  Jaclyn holds an MFA from the University of British Columbia's School of Creative Writing and lives in Hamilton with her partner and daughter. 