Welcoming new mentor Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang

VMI is delighted to welcome Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang. Sarah, who is based in Toronto, will be available for mentoring in poetry, children’s literature, and graphic novel. Her experience and enthusiasm for connecting with authors makes her a great addition to the VMI community. 

Sarah is a poet, children’s writer and teacher. Her books of poetry include Status Update(2013), which was nominated for the Pat Lowther Award, and Sweet Devilry (2011), which won the Gerald Lampert Award. Her new book of poetry, Grappling Hook, is forthcoming with Palimpsest Press. She was shortlisted for the CBC poetry prize in 2019 and longlisted for the CBC poetry prize in 2018. Tsiang’s poetry has won the Arc Magazine Reader’s Choice for Poem of the Year, and was shortlisted for the Forward Awards, Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse contest, the Bliss Carmen Poetry Award, and the Re-lit Award. Her work has also been featured in Best of the Best Canadian Poetry and many other anthologies. She is the editor of the poetry collection, Desperately Seeking Susans (2013).

She is also the author of 8 children’s books, including picture books such as A Flock of Shoes, the non-fiction Warriors and Wailers, and the YA novel Breathing Fire. Sarah’s work been published and translated internationally, as well as named to the OLA Best Bets for Children 2010, Best Books for Kids & Teens from 2011 to 2014, the Toronto Public Library’s First and Best Book List (2012), and the Top Ten List for the Amelia Bloomer Project. Her works have also been shortlisted for the Blue Spruce and Silver Birch Award by the Ontario Library Association. She is currently the Poetry Editor at Arc Poetry Magazine and the Creative Director for Poetry In Voice.

To learn more about Sarah’s approach to mentoring, read her answers to our mentor interview here. We look forward to pairing her with writers in SOLO and PRO programs, as well as the next cohort of the Six-Month Intensive. Welcome, Sarah!