Amy Willans

Amy Willans’ poetry has been published in Standing Together: Women Speak Out about Violence and Abuse (Brindle and Glass, 2005); Transition magazine, published by the Canadian Mental Health Association; and in various journals and anthologies. Her spoken word poetry is featured on The Raving Poets’ CDs Mumbo Jumbo, Pig Poetry and The Raving Poets Remixed. Willans received an honourable mention in the Edmonton Voices Literary Competition in 2011, and was a presenter at MacEwan University’s undergraduate conference, Reading Identity: Inside/Out in 2013. In 2013, she partnered with visual artist Laurie MacFayden in a mixed-media installation entitled Fighting Normal, which explores the stigma that confronts anyone who does not present as ‘normal’ in society. Willans was recently selected as a participant in The Iowa Writer’s Workshop graduate program, at the University of Iowa. Willans lives in Edmonton, Alberta and is a Sociology Criminology student at MacEwan University. She is also a public speaker on issues of mental health and recovery. Her first chapbook, Haunted by Blue was published in 2014 by The Rasp and the Wine.