Tonja Gundvaldsen Klaassen

Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen was raised on the prairies, and now lives on the Atlantic coast. Her work in three collections of poetry, Clay Birds (Coteau), Ör (Brick Books) and Lean-to (Gaspereau) has received a CBC literary award, the John V. Hicks prize, a Saskatchewan Book Award, the Atlantic Poetry Prize and was shortlisted for the Pat Lowther award. Her poems are recorded with Norman Adams on cello, and have been exhibited at the Anna Leonowens Gallery in Halifax. She’s read at the OBEY music convention and collaborates sporadically with poet and visual artist Anne Simpson on a series of experiments in distant influence.