An Avian Alphabet
An Illustrated Anthology of Canadian Poetry
by Edith Krause

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An Avian Alphabet began as a body of art work, twenty-six bird images, one for each letter of the alphabet, created through the printmaking process of woodcut. Hung as a frieze around the gallery walls, they formed the anchor for an art exhibition about birds at a small community art gallery in Fort Langley, B.C. in 2019. The exhibition was enriched by an evening of poetry where six poets read their works inspired by the birds in An Avian Alphabet. Later, to transform the project into a book, nine more poets were invited to complete the avian alphabet of poetry. This is a second edition; the first edition was hand-printed as a fine art book by Barbarian Press.

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Edith Krause began her love for birds as a student at the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre on Vancouver Island in the 1970s. She began printmaking in the 1990’s and her work has been exhibited in Canada, Europe, and Asia. Birds have lately become favourite subjects for her prints, created in her home studio in Langley, BC. Susan McCaslin has published fifteen volumes of poetry and edited two previous poetry anthologies. She lives near Fort Langley, BC, where she can often be found walking near the Fraser River communing with herons, eagles, and other sublime musicians. The fourteen other contributing poets are all accomplished Canadian poets with many other publications to their names. All clearly responded to the invitation to participate in this project out of their appreciation for birds.

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Contributors

Author

Edith Krause

Editor

Susan McCaslin