Shadow Blight by Annick MacAskill

Shadow Blightconsiders the pain and isolation of pregnancy loss through the lens of classical myth. Drawing on the stories of Niobe whose monumental suffering at the loss of her children literally turned her to stoneand others, this collection explores the experience of being swept away by grief and silenced by the world. Skirting the tropes ("o how beautiful / the poets make our catastrophes"), MacAskill interweaves the ancient with the contemporary in a way that opens possibilities and offers a new language for those "shut up in stillness." (FromGaspereau Press)

Shadow Blightwonthe 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry.

• See all thefinalists for the 2022 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry

Annick MacAskill isArc Poetry Magazine'spoet-in-residence for 202122. Her poetry collections includeMurmurations andNo Meeting Without Body, which was nominated for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and shortlisted for the J.M. Abraham Award. She lives in Halifax, where she teaches French language and literature at Saint Mary's University.