Erin Moure is a Canadian poet, translator from French, Spanish, Galician, Portuguese, and Ukrainian, and an essayist. She is a recipient of numerous awards. Learn more about her life and creative journey on calgarynka.
Of Ukrainian Heritage
Erin was born on April 17, 1955, in Calgary. Her mother, who emigrated to Canada in 1929, hailed from western Ukraine. Her father, born in Ottawa, was the great-grandson of painter George Theodore Berthon. The couple also had two sons besides Erin.
As a child, Erin began writing rhyming quatrains. She crafted her collections from grocery paper bags and hand-stitched them. In high school, she immersed herself in poetry, studying an anthology titled Impact published in 1968 by J. M. Dent & Sons in Toronto. It featured works by Canadian, American, and British poets. Erin’s favorite poems included The Truth by Randall Jarrell, Not Waving But Drowning by Stevie Smith, and The Orange Bears by Kenneth Patchen.
Erin attended the University of Calgary and moved to Vancouver in 1975, enrolling in the philosophy program at the University of British Columbia. However, after a year, she left the university and began working at Via Rail Canada while continuing to write poetry in her spare time.
Work in Vancouver and Montreal
In Vancouver, Erin learned French and Galician to translate the poetry of Chus Pato. Later, she expanded her work to include Portuguese, Spanish, and English translations. During this period, she published her early poetry collections: Empire, York Street (1979), Wanted Alive (1983), and Domestic Fuel (1985).
From 1985, Erin lived in Montreal, where she published works such as Furious, WSW, Sheepish Beauty, and Civilian Love. In Montreal and other Canadian and American cities, she led poetry and poetic practice workshops. She also taught management, communication practices, and strategic planning in corporate and educational settings. Later, she worked as a freelance editor, translator, and communications specialist in Montreal.
Shift from Accessible to Complex Writing
Despite her brief study of philosophy, Erin’s work is imbued with philosophical questions. As Professor Melissa Jacques noted, Moure’s poetry is fragmentary and meta-critical, reflecting everyday events and ordinary people through the lens of complex philosophical dilemmas. She challenges standards of accessibility and rationality, earning both acclaim and criticism for her intricate and alienating writing style.
Her early works are relatively traditional compared to her later experimental pieces. Feminist themes dominate her poetry, particularly in early works where she writes about her experiences working in factories, trains, and other settings.
What sets Moure apart is her remarkable juxtaposition of poststructuralist philosophy and lived experience. Her works blend linguistic, intellectual, and political elements in a unique manner.
The evolution of Erin’s style is evident in her book covers. For instance, the cover of Empire, York Street (1979) reflects her vivid and accessible early style, whereas Search Procedures (1996) emphasizes the complexity of her later works.
Increasing Formal Experiments
As her writing evolved, Erin introduced more formal experimentation, language play, and rhetorical devices. Some of her poems are multilingual, exploring complex relationships between language, history, and identity. Her multilingual approach reveals how languages interact beyond their usual sounds and syntax.
Interestingly, Erin has referenced her Ukrainian roots in poems that mention the village of Velyki Hlibovychi in the Lviv region. She even weaves Ukrainian phrases into her work. In one series of poems, she honors the ingredients of borscht, the Ukrainian national soup. These poems, originally written in Galician, were later translated into English.
Some of her works feature QR codes that link to online poems. Her collection Pillage Laud (1999) combines computer-generated sentences into poems about lesbianism.
Use of Heteronyms
Erin often signs her works using heteronyms, pseudonyms that differentiate parts of her oeuvre. For example, her translation Sheep’s Vigil for a Fervent Person was published under the name Eirin Moure. For O Cidadán (2002), she shifted the accent in her surname, becoming Erín Mouré. She also uses the heteronym Elisa Sampedrín in several collections, starting with Little Theatres (2005).
Through heteronyms, Moure highlights the fluid and unstable nature of language and meaning, as well as her view of identity as fluid and plural.
Prioritizing Herself in Translation
Erin is known for her radical approach to translation, evident in books like Sheep’s Vigil by a Fervent Person and Guardador de Rebanhos. Unlike traditional translators who often distance themselves from the text, Moure brings her personality to the forefront.
She has translated works by writers such as Franco-Canadian poet Nicole Brossard, Quebec poet Louise Dupré, Galician writer Chus Pato, and Chilean poet Andrés Ajens, among others.
Collaborations with Poets and Translators
Erin has frequently collaborated with other poets and translators. She and Canadian writer-translator Robert Majzels translated four collections by Nicole Brossard. In 2007, they were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation for Brossard’s Notebook of Roses and Civilization. In 2008, this book was a finalist for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the QWF Translation Prize.
Other collaborators include Chus Pato and Canadian poet-translator Oana Avasilichioaei.
Numerous Awards
Erin Moure has won multiple awards for both poetry and translation. She was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry in 1979, 1996, 2002, and 2005. She won the National Magazine Award for Poetry in 1982 and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award in 1986. In 1988, she received the prize for her book Furious.
She also won the QSPELL Poetry Prize in 1990 and was a finalist in 1994, 1996, and 1999. In 2002, she was a finalist for the City of Toronto Book Awards. Erin won the A. M. Klein Prize for Poetry in 2005 and was a finalist in 2007 and 2010.
In 2021, she won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Translation for La vie radieuse by Canadian writer Chantal Neveu.