Ashleigh
A. Allen
Ashleigh A. Allen is a poet, writer, and educator. She has taught literature, writing, and creative writing in various classroom and community settings in New York City and Toronto. A graduate of The New School’s MFA program, Allen is currently a PhD candidate in curriculum and pedagogy at OISE - University of Toronto. Her poetry has been published in PRISM international, ROOM, Contemporary Verse 2, and The Malahat Review. In 2023, she was longlisted for the CBC Poetry Prize. Allen lives in Toronto.
Award History
Jury Citation
“Confident and ready, Ashleigh A. Allen’s poems treat myth and story, rhyme and sound as the material for ancestral exploration. ‘Balcony buffalo’ exhibits a deft use of prose-poem structures and phrasal-sentence tension. Frequent use of assonance and sibilance, concrete language, and a startling diction reveals a narrative which slowly develops through ‘clusters of curses’ and ‘dice and discomfort.’ Language here expertly rolls around the mouth, unfurling ‘true trumpets’ of crumpled consonants.”
—2024 RBC Bronwen Wallace Award poetry jury (Derek Beaulieu, Kama La Mackerel, and Joanna Lilley)
