Susan Scott is a Great Lakes writer working at the creative intersection of story, spirit, self, and culture.
Her latest book, Body & Soul, features women writers and poets on unorthodox encounters with the sacred, and complements her first anthology, Stories in My Neighbour’s Faith, elevating diverse voices from across Canada.
A chapbook, Temple in a Teapot, launched on a 1,000-mile tour of western states, plumbs the sublime and the suppressed in American religious history.
Sainted Dirt, her memoir-in-progress, turns on shame and the sacred in the lives of women and girls.
Susan has taught widely in communities and classrooms, including at Renison University College, St. Jerome’s University, and at Wilfrid Laurier University. Guest lectures include various writing programs and the Yale Institute for Sacred Music (ISM).
In 2020, she founded an ongoing series of life-writing webinars to build community among writers and to introduce a global audience to underrepresented voices across Canada.
Collaborating is a cornerstone of practice. Susan founded the award-winning Walkerton Water Stories Project and its offspring the Water Stories Project (2001-05), and was a founding member of Native-Immigrant’s culture work in Montreal and Chile (2013-20). She has served as The New Quarterly’s lead nonfiction editor (2012-9), as retreat director, and as associate creative director of the Wild Writers Literary Festival (2013-9). In 2020 she became a consulting editor and the first director of the Wild Writers Mentorship Program.
Dedication to community service is coloured by a rich humanities background that includes doctoral work in anthropology, fine arts, and religious studies (University of Pittsburgh); an MA in religion & culture (Wilfrid Laurier University), training in spiritual direction (Jubilee Program, St. Michael’s College, University of Toronto), and a graduate certificate in creative writing from the Humber School for Writers.
With gratitude for living on the Haldimand Tract, in the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee, Anishnaabeg, and Neutral peoples, Susan currently serves her community as co-chair of the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund.
Look for her cycling on her Simcoe, wicker basket brimming with baguettes.
Watch for news of her next book in 2022.