Canadian poets Sheri Benning, Richard Greene and Nyla Matuk escape the polar vortex to read in Manchester at the Burgess Foundation’s Engine House. Hosted by Canadian Manchester-resident Evan Jones, poet and co-editor of the anthology, Modern Canadian Poets (Carcanet 2010) and author of Paralogues (Carcanet 2012).

Sheri Benning grew up on a small farm in Saskatchewan, Canada. Previous publications include Thin Moon Psalm (Brick Books, 2007) and Earth After Rain (Thistledown Press, 2001). Her poetry has appeared recently in the best-selling anthology, New Poetries V (Carcanet, 2011).

Richard Greene is best known in the UK for his books Graham Greene: A Life in Letters (2007) and Edith Sitwell: Avant-Garde Poet, English Genius (2011). He is currently writing a new authorized biography of Graham Greene. In Canada, where he best known as a poet, his collection Boxing the Compass won Canada’s top literary prize, the Governor-General’s Literary Award for Poetry, in 2010 and his most recent collection is titled Dante’s House.

Nyla Matuk’s first full-length collection, Sumptuary Laws, appeared in 2012 with Montreal’s Véhicule Press.  She was a finalist for the 2012 Walrus Poetry Prize and Sumptuary Laws was shortlisted for the League of Canadian Poets’ Gerald Lampert Memorial Award for a first book of poetry. She lives in Toronto.