About Elisabeth

Elisabeth Blair is a writer, editor, and educator with an extensive background in music and the visual arts. Her publications include full-length collection because God loves the wasp (Unsolicited Press 2022), two chapbooks—We He She/It (Dancing Girl Press 2016) and without saying (Ethel Press 2020)—and inclusion in Biblioasis' anthology, Best Canadian Poetry 2025. Her poems have appeared in a variety of journals, including Columba, carte blanche, Harpur PalateFeminist Studies, and Juked. She has been artist-in-residence at the Vermont Studio Center, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Wildacres, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and ACRE, and has received several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts. Her monthly newsletter, lullabies & alarms, explores the craft of poetry. 

We He She/It

Dancing Girl Press, 2016 (chapbook)

Out of print.

Read a review by author Connor Coyne.

Further Poems

Spadina Literary Review, Best Canadian Poetry 2025, Paramanu Pentaquark, Juked, The Antigonish Review, Montreal Poetry Magazine, Harpur PalateCold Lake AnthologyLily Poetry ReviewUnlost JournalPøst, WomenArts Quarterly Journal, Feminist Studiescream city review,West Michigan Artist Collective, Roanoke Review, GNU Journal, armarollaS/tickRight Hand PointingBrickplight, Lady Lazarus Journal, Eunoia ReviewSWWIMS/tickDead Flowers:, A Poetry RagHumble Humdrum Cotton FrockThe Literary Bohemian, Fortunates, Paramanu Pentaquark, zafusy, Ovenbird Poetry, Can We Have Our Ball Back?, Eunoia, Lilliput Review, Shampoo, ken*again, Be Which Magazine, Wicked Alice, Acumen Literary Journal

I was searching for an editor with unique, I thought impossible, skills in one human; someone creative and who understands form, grammar and composition in the wild world of poetry; one who is honest yet forgiving and who shows up and does what they agree to do, perhaps an alter ego. I found Elisabeth Blair, who exceeded all expectations.”

— Bill Pendergraft, author of Love in the Age of Loneliness

Working with Elisabeth has been the most purposeful and rewarding experience I have had with an editor.  ”

— Elaine Pentaleri, Green Mountain Book Festival board member and editor of the Burlington Writers Workshop's Cold Lake Anthology

Manuscript Consultation

If you've completed a draft of your manuscript, I can offer detailed feedback and suggestions for helping your book reach its highest potential. 

First, I'll ask you questions about your intentions for the work—the audience, the mood, the message, the content, the style. I believe that grappling with these questions is a central part of the revision process, and that my role is to be a gentle interrogator. 

Based on your answers, I'll go through your manuscript and provide specific, tailored suggestions for how to meet your goals and intentions, on both the macro- and micro-scales: the overall form and flow of the work, the roles of each individual word, and everything in between. 

Elisabeth has been incredible. She has pushed me to improve my manuscript to a degree I hadn't thought possible. She has not only helped me to clarify and tidy, but also to deepen and intensify. If you choose Elisabeth, you will have to work hard. And you will be wowed by the results. ”

— Sarah-Jean Krahn, author of A Girl Who Was His House (Gothic Funk Press, 2020)

Creative Mentorship

If you have a project, individual poem, or writing practice which you're in the process of developing, I'd love to help you. We can have regular live 1-1 workshopping or mentoring sessions with me via video chat or telephone, or we can have an asynchronous email correspondence conversation about your work. 

Elisabeth is a true gift as a writing coach. Drawing upon her plethoric abilities as an exceptionally talented poet and multidisciplinary artist, Elisabeth is enthusiastic, encouraging, and generously committed to her students. In her abundant way, Elisabeth may be one of the great poetry teachers of my life.”

— S. Farkas

Contact me about my availability.

For all of my services, the client can choose my hourly fee along the sliding scale of $30–$150 per hour.  

I accept Venmo, Paypal, checks, and Interac. 

Please get in touch to check my availability.

Thanks to Elisabeth's patience, encouragement, and professionalism, I’m now on my way to completing not only my first novel, but also a music album as part of the story’s world building. I highly recommend her as a mentor, an editor, and an overall inspiration as an artist.”

— River Lee, emerging writer

Our Liminal Minds: Writing from Our Own Galactic Outer Rims

Elisabeth Blair

This course dives into the adventure of writing from the far reaches of the mind—including the mindset and practice of both freewriting and improvisation; the possibilities of spirit writing (for skeptics OR believers), automatic writing, and trance(-ish) speech; and the strange and beguiling realm of hypnagogia.

This online, self-paced course without feedback is offered through Wet Ink, a web-based writing workshop platform. You may begin the class at any time and finish it at your own pace. 

$100 USD.

Send me an email to register.  

lullabies & alarms

Elisabeth's monthly newsletter on the craft & power of poetry is called lullabies & alarms. It includes exercises, recommended readings, and writing prompts. 

The free version and the paid version are the same; the paid version supports her writing and teaching [thank you!!!]. 

Topics include craft, form, aesthetics, voice, privilege, intentions, harm, poetic devices, accessibility, opacity, history, art, music, language, visual art, improvisation, mediumship, revision techniques, mixing forms, and the subconscious, to name a few. 

Previous events

Date Event Location
 — (PDT, UTC-07)  — (PDT, UTC-07) Reading Series — Unsolicited Press online online
Brockton Writers Series Toronto, Ontario Toronto, Ontario
Poetry About a Difficult Past: One Approach Zoom Zoom
Author Talk Cabot Library, Cabot, VT Cabot Library, Cabot, VT
(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04) Lit Club at the Radio Bean Radio Bean, Burlington, VT Radio Bean, Burlington, VT
 — (EST, UTC-05)  — (EST, UTC-05) The Volta, or Turn (Poetry Craft & Form Series with BWW) Online Online
 — (EST, UTC-05)  — (EST, UTC-05) The Power of the Persona Poem (Poetry Craft & Form Series with BWW) Online Online
 — (EST, UTC-05)  — (EST, UTC-05) The Reader as Conversation Partner International Women's Writing Guild - online International Women's Writing Guild - online
 — (EDT, UTC-04)  — (EDT, UTC-04) Rhetorical Figures of Speech (Poetry Craft & Form Series with BWW) Online Online
 — (EDT, UTC-04)  — (EDT, UTC-04) Poetry About a Difficult Past: One Approach Online Online
 —  — Lit Night at the Lampshop, Green Mountain Book Festival The Lampshop, Burlington, VT The Lampshop, Burlington, VT
 —  — Book Launch - because God loves the wasp Radio Bean, Burlington, VT Radio Bean, Burlington, VT
(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04) Panel on Self-Care for Creative Writers: IWWG Poetry Palooza Kickoff Event Zoom Zoom
 — (EDT, UTC-04)  — (EDT, UTC-04) Erasure Poetry (Poetry Craft & Form Series with BWW) Online Online
(EDT, UTC-04) (EDT, UTC-04) Sonic Devices (Poetry Craft & Form Series with BWW) Online Online
 —  — Bridging the Strange & the Familiar: Practical Approaches for Poets Online Online
 —  — Relish in the Wreck: The Joy of Revising Poetry Online Online

Music

Beginning in 2004, Elisabeth studied voice privately, then spent many years on the singer/songwriter circuit in Chicago, self-producing 5 solo albums, and working with theatre groups, writers, and a magician to create stage and theme music. After experiencing the thrills of improvisation as lead vocalist for Robert Metrick's The Power of Then and Carole McCurdy's ALAS, she moved into both free improvisation and formal composition, studying music composition through Berklee online and at Western Michigan University. 

In 2017 she initiated the Improv Poetry Orchestra, which pairs improvisers of music and poetry together in a live setting.  She was fortunate to be a participant composer at the Toronto Creative Music Lab, a composer-in-residence at the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts and Wildacres, and worked with improviser/composer Karl Berger at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Her works have been performed internationally, including New York, Melbourne, Canberra, Berlin, Montreal, and Zacatecas.

Folk & singer-songwriter 

Country of Origin

Elisabeth Blair

In cart Not available Out of stock

My first solo album, 2010. Featuring Michael Tracht on cello (Virgin, Halifax Explosion, Duck Duck Goose) and appearances by Ryan Gunzel (formerly of House & Bird) on bass, dulcimer and banjo (To Be Alone, Secret).

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Chamber & electroacoustic 

Contact me to obtain scores/parts.

Improv Poetry Orchestra

I initiated this practice at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in February 2017. 

It involves writing poetry live, projected on a screen, while musicians improvise. The writer (who can be me, another poet, or a member of the public) and the musicians work with each others' material in real time, creating symbiotic narratives and sound worlds that would never normally come into being on their own. 

I've created an Improv Poetry Orchestra at ACA in Florida, at the ACRE space in Chicago, and it was featured at the Oh My Ears New Music Festival in January 2018. 

See examples of performances.

Listening to Ladies was a podcast series created, hosted, and produced by Elisabeth Blair. It aired between September 26th, 2016 and September 27th, 2019. The 30 episodes feature excerpts from interviews with composers who identify as women, interwoven with samples of their work. 

Interviewees include established, emerging and under-recognized composers from the USA, Canada, Argentina, Israel, Iran, Scotland, England, and Australia. Each interview covers two main themes: the composer's experience of being a woman in this field, and the composer's music & aesthetics.

The podcast was funded by Patreon subscribers, the Irving S Gilmore Foundation in partnership with 102.1 WMUK, and the International Alliance for Women in Music.

Listening to Ladies - Podcast Trailer

Listening to Ladies - Podcast

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Contact

join my mailing list for news:

occasional (1-3 times per year) updates on my projects. (If you'd like to receive my monthly poetry craft newsletter 'lullabies & alarms,' that sign-up is above)