photo by Andrew Battershill
Suzannah Showler (she/her) is the author of two collections of poetry and a book of cultural criticism about The Bachelor franchise. Her first novel, Quality Time, was published by McClelland & Stewart in 2023.
You can read her writing in The New York Times Magazine, Harper’s, Slate, Buzzfeed Reader, The Walrus, Maisonneuve, Hazlitt, and elsewhere. Her work has been recognized by the Writers’ Trust of Canada, the League of Canadian Poets, The Koffler Centre for the Arts, and the National Magazine Awards.
She teaches creative writing and is the poetry editor for Maisonneuve. She lives on unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) land (Vancouver) with her family.
[recent & selected]
“Dark skies allow us to see what our ancestors saw when they turned to the heavens, but they may also offer an apocalyptic preview of what the world will look like after we are gone.”
“At some point, you get big enough that you stop believing the world is your cum rag and begin to just feel exposed.”
“What if something is both a guiding light and a hard wind; a true north calling the wayward compass into line and also the entropic force that blows everything apart, sending particles fleeing from security or pattern or sense?”
“Celebrity can be blinding—sometimes the best way to see it is to turn away from the bright centre of the many-sequinned spectacle, to reconstruct the disco ball by looking at the carousel of lights spinning in its orbit”
“Just as the fetish for wellness swallows and camouflages the desire to be thin, maybe getting in touch with your most authentic creative self is at some base level still about increasing productivity and status.”
“When I listen to a podcast, I think some part of me believes I’m only hearing myself think.”
“In its ideal form, biting your nails happens in a state of balance: between knowledge and intuition, human and animal, life and death.”
“We are all in this together, taking our loneliness and reimagining it as a duty.”
[find me]
My agent is Jim Rutman at Sterling Lord Literistic.
My email is suzannah dot showler at gmail dot com.
You can book me for a manuscript consultation.
Or subscribe to Book Burn, a newsletter about books and working out.
Sometimes I read in public.
Sometimes I’m available to write, edit, jury or teach.
Please be in touch with any questions or answers.
