Sandra Alland
Encyclopedia
Sandra Alland is an Edinburgh Scottish-Canadian writer, multimedia artist, small press
publisher, performer and activist. She has published two collections of poetry, Proof of a Tongue (McGilligan Books, 2004) and Blissful Times (BookThug, 2007). In 2009, Edinburgh's Forest Publications published a chapbook of her short stories, Here's to Wang. Alland's work focuses on social justice, language, humour and experimental forms.
In a four-star performance review in December 2007, Edinburgh's The Skinny said: "This is not My Coming Out Poem of Pain, this is Sandra Alland's brilliant Beckett
cut-ups...The images come so fast you sometimes feel like a Slinky falling down the stairs, yet the emotion and intention are clear, moving, and often funny." In spring 2009, Glasgow's Lock Up Your Daughters magazine said: "Reminiscent of Miranda July
and complemented by a deadpan delivery, Alland's words are at once both drolly funny and sweetly strange."
Alland's writing has been published in anthologies including, The State of the Arts: Living with Culture in Toronto (Coach House Books
), radiant danse uv being: A Poetic Portrait of bill bissett
(blewointment), Red Light: Superheroes, Saints, and Sluts (Arsenal Pulp Press
), My Lump in the Bed: Love Poems for George W. Bush (Dwarf Puppets on Parade), and "Can't Lit: Fearless Fiction from Broken Pencil
Magazine. She has published and presented her work in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Spain, Germany, Scotland, England and the U.S.
Besides text, Alland has worked in multimedia
, performance poetry
and sound poetry
. She currently collaborates with composer and musician Y. Josephine and filmmaker Ariadna Battich in the poetry-music-video fusion band, Zorras
. In autumn 2009, Scotland's ultimatemetal.com said of her work with Zorras: "A very unique mix of poetry, music, stories and just plain weird. The poetry was sharp and funny, the placement effective, the visuals fitting; a rather unforgettable experience, I highly recommend checking them out to anyone looking for something different."
In Canada, Alland has featured at series including Pivot, Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, Test Reading Series, The IV Lounge, The Art Bar, the Ottawa International Writers' Festival, Hillside Festival, Canadian Festival of Spoken Word
and Pride Week (Toronto)
. In the UK, she has performed at such places as Museum of London
, Soho Theatre
, The Oxford Playhouse
, Queer Mutiny
, Aye Write!
, The Arches (Glasgow)
, Voodoo Rooms, Bongo Club, GFest – gayWise LGBT Arts Festival, Edinburgh and London Ladyfest
, Street Level Gallery, The Hidden Cafe, International Day Against Homophobia
(GRV), Club Welto, The Golden Hour and The Forest (social centre).
Alland has curated events for entities including Artscape's Queen West Art Crawl, This Ain't the Rosedale Library
and The Theatre Centre, and co-created Canada's first ever Silent Slam (a live, projected writing competition). She founded and curates the Edinburgh series Cachin Cachan Cachunga, a multimedia event featuring queer and trans artists. She is also a founding member of b)other, a Scottish collective of LGBTI Deaf and Disabled artists.
Alland's short stories can be found in This Magazine
, Broken Pencil
, dig and other independent publications. Her visual art and videos were on display at Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art, with the b)other collective, from 26 November 2009 to 21 February 2010.
Small press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
publisher, performer and activist. She has published two collections of poetry, Proof of a Tongue (McGilligan Books, 2004) and Blissful Times (BookThug, 2007). In 2009, Edinburgh's Forest Publications published a chapbook of her short stories, Here's to Wang. Alland's work focuses on social justice, language, humour and experimental forms.
In a four-star performance review in December 2007, Edinburgh's The Skinny said: "This is not My Coming Out Poem of Pain, this is Sandra Alland's brilliant Beckett
Beckett
- People :* Arthur William à Beckett , English journalist and man of letters* Barry Beckett , American musician* Billy Beckett , English footballer...
cut-ups...The images come so fast you sometimes feel like a Slinky falling down the stairs, yet the emotion and intention are clear, moving, and often funny." In spring 2009, Glasgow's Lock Up Your Daughters magazine said: "Reminiscent of Miranda July
Miranda July
Miranda July is a performing artist, writer, actress and film director. Born Miranda Jennifer Grossinger, she works under the surname of "July," which can be traced to a character from a "girlzine" Miranda created with high school friend Johanna Fateman, called Snarla.- Background :Miranda...
and complemented by a deadpan delivery, Alland's words are at once both drolly funny and sweetly strange."
Alland's writing has been published in anthologies including, The State of the Arts: Living with Culture in Toronto (Coach House Books
Coach House Books
Coach House Books is an independent Canadian publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario. Coach House publishes innovative and experimental poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction. The press is particularly interested in writing that pushes at the boundaries of convention.-History:The company was...
), radiant danse uv being: A Poetic Portrait of bill bissett
Bill Bissett
bill bissett is a Canadian poet famous for his anti-conventional style. He often does not capitalise his name or use capital letters.-Life:...
(blewointment), Red Light: Superheroes, Saints, and Sluts (Arsenal Pulp Press
Arsenal Pulp Press
Arsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, and is noted for founding the annual Three-Day Novel Contest .Authors who have been published by Arsenal Pulp ...
), My Lump in the Bed: Love Poems for George W. Bush (Dwarf Puppets on Parade), and "Can't Lit: Fearless Fiction from Broken Pencil
Broken Pencil
Broken Pencil is a Canadian magazine, which profiles zine culture and independent arts and music. The magazine publishes four times annually and is based in Toronto.The magazine was founded in 1995 by Hal Niedzviecki...
Magazine. She has published and presented her work in Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, Spain, Germany, Scotland, England and the U.S.
Besides text, Alland has worked in multimedia
Multimedia
Multimedia is media and content that uses a combination of different content forms. The term can be used as a noun or as an adjective describing a medium as having multiple content forms. The term is used in contrast to media which use only rudimentary computer display such as text-only, or...
, performance poetry
Performance poetry
Performance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe poetry written or composed for performance rather than print distribution.-History:...
and sound poetry
Sound poetry
Sound poetry is an artistic form bridging between literary and musical composition, in which the phonetic aspects of human speech are foregrounded instead of more conventional semantic and syntactic values; "verse without words"...
. She currently collaborates with composer and musician Y. Josephine and filmmaker Ariadna Battich in the poetry-music-video fusion band, Zorras
Zorras
Zorras are a multimedia troupe based in Edinburgh, Scotland. They emerged out of the city’s alternative poetry and music scenes in 2008, and perform at some of Edinburgh’s most renowned counterculture locations and events. Zorras are also part of the queer, transsexual, transgender, feminist and...
. In autumn 2009, Scotland's ultimatemetal.com said of her work with Zorras: "A very unique mix of poetry, music, stories and just plain weird. The poetry was sharp and funny, the placement effective, the visuals fitting; a rather unforgettable experience, I highly recommend checking them out to anyone looking for something different."
In Canada, Alland has featured at series including Pivot, Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, Test Reading Series, The IV Lounge, The Art Bar, the Ottawa International Writers' Festival, Hillside Festival, Canadian Festival of Spoken Word
Canadian Festival of Spoken Word
The Canadian Festival of Spoken Word is an annual festival produced by Spoken Word Canada and planned by a local Festival Organizing Committee in each host city....
and Pride Week (Toronto)
Pride Week (Toronto)
Pride Week is a ten-day event held in Toronto, Canada, during the end of June each year. It is a celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area. It is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world, featuring several stages with live performers and...
. In the UK, she has performed at such places as Museum of London
Museum of London
The Museum of London documents the history of London from the Prehistoric to the present day. The museum is located close to the Barbican Centre, as part of the striking Barbican complex of buildings created in the 1960s and 70s as an innovative approach to re-development within a bomb damaged...
, Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre
Soho Theatre is a theatre in the eponymous Soho district of the City of Westminster. It presents new works of theatre, together with comedy and cabaret....
, The Oxford Playhouse
The Oxford Playhouse
The Oxford Playhouse is an independent theatre in Beaumont Street, Oxford, opposite the Ashmolean Museum.- History :...
, Queer Mutiny
Queer Mutiny
Queer Mutiny is an anarchist Queer organization. There are branches in Edinburgh, London, Brighton, Bristol, Cardiff and Leeds in the United Kingdom....
, Aye Write!
Aye Write!
Aye Write is a book festival which takes place in Glasgow in late February or early March. As of 2007 it is an annual fixture.-History:The first Aye Write festival was in 2005...
, The Arches (Glasgow)
The Arches (Glasgow)
The Arches is a bar, arts venue, theatre, live music venue and nightclub in Glasgow, Scotland, which first opened in 1991. It is a not-for-profit organisation...
, Voodoo Rooms, Bongo Club, GFest – gayWise LGBT Arts Festival, Edinburgh and London Ladyfest
Ladyfest
Ladyfest is a community-based, not-for-profit global music and arts festival for female artists that features bands, musical groups, performance artists, authors, spoken word and visual artists, films, lectures, art exhibitions and workshops; it is organized by volunteers. The first ever Ladyfest...
, Street Level Gallery, The Hidden Cafe, International Day Against Homophobia
International Day Against Homophobia
The International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia is celebrated every May 17.It is coordinated by the Paris based "IDAHO Committee" founded and presided by French academics, Louis-Georges Tin...
(GRV), Club Welto, The Golden Hour and The Forest (social centre).
Alland has curated events for entities including Artscape's Queen West Art Crawl, This Ain't the Rosedale Library
This Ain't the Rosedale Library
This Ain't the Rosedale Library was an independent bookstore located in Kensington Market, Toronto, Ontario. Formerly located in the Church and Wellesley neighbourhood, the store moved to Kensington Market in May 2008, and closed in June 2010 after failing to pay rent.This Ain't the Rosedale...
and The Theatre Centre, and co-created Canada's first ever Silent Slam (a live, projected writing competition). She founded and curates the Edinburgh series Cachin Cachan Cachunga, a multimedia event featuring queer and trans artists. She is also a founding member of b)other, a Scottish collective of LGBTI Deaf and Disabled artists.
Alland's short stories can be found in This Magazine
This Magazine
This Magazine is an independent alternative Canadian political magazine. It was launched "by a gang of school activists" in 1966 as This Magazine is About Schools, a journal covering political issues in the education system...
, Broken Pencil
Broken Pencil
Broken Pencil is a Canadian magazine, which profiles zine culture and independent arts and music. The magazine publishes four times annually and is based in Toronto.The magazine was founded in 1995 by Hal Niedzviecki...
, dig and other independent publications. Her visual art and videos were on display at Glasgow's Gallery of Modern Art, with the b)other collective, from 26 November 2009 to 21 February 2010.
Works
- The Mathematics of Love. Toronto: 13the Tiger Press, 2000.
- Proof of a Tongue. Toronto: McGilligan, 2004.
- Blissful Times. Toronto: BookThug, 2007.
- Here's to Wang. Edinburgh: Forest Publications, 2009.