Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Award Winner

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Carolyn Clink

[Carolyn Clink with Aurora Award] Carolyn Joan Clink was born in Medicine Hat, Alberta. She lived in Ralston, Alberta, until she was five. From 1964 to 1970, she lived in West Hartford, Connecticut, then settled with her family in Toronto, Ontario.

Carolyn is an accomplished poet who now lives in Mississauga (just west of Toronto) with her husband, science-fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer.

Carolyn and Rob met October 17, 1975, in their high-school science-fiction club, NASFA (of which Rob was cofounder), and were married on December 22, 1984, in a small ceremony at Carolyn's parents' house. Carolyn is the oldest of five children; her brother David Livingstone Clink is also a widely published poet.

Carolyn won the 2011 Aurora Award — Canada's top honour in science fiction and fantasy — in the Best Poem/Song category for her poem "The ABCs of the End of the World," first published in the anthology A Verdant Green. This was the first Aurora Award to be presented in this new category. Carolyn is thrilled to be the inaugural winner.

[Cover Art] Carolyn has had two poems published in Analog, the world's number-one bestselling science-fiction magazine (July 1996 and October 1997; the cover of the latter issue is shown at left). She has also had poetry in all five volumes of Canada's acclaimed horror anthology series Northern Frights, in the science-fiction anthologies Tesseracts 4 and 7, and in the magazines Weird Tales, Chiaroscuro, Tales of the Unanticipated, Space and Time, Star*Line, and Gaslight, and in the Canadian SF magazines TransVersions and On Spec.

More recently, she had poetry in the Canadian anthologies The Stars As Seen from this Particular Angle of Night: an anthology of speculative verse and Land/space: an anthology of prairie speculative fiction.

Her tanka poem "cats worship" was selected for Dwarf Stars 2010: The Best Speculative Poems of Ten Lines or Fewer From 2010. (Actually should say "From 2009.")

Her poems have also appeared in many mainstream publications, including: Dalhousie Review, Poetry Toronto, White Wall Review, Hart House Review, Hazmat, Nōd, Gusts, and Sijo West. She was the $500 prize winner in McClelland & Stewart's "Celebrate Our City" contest, honoring Toronto's sesquicentennial, and the First Prize winner in Poetry Toronto's "Father's Day" contest.

Her poems are collected in three chapbooks:

Snapshots, (May, 2007) published by believe your own press,
Changing Planes, (2000) published by Junction Books, and
Much Slower Than Light, (updated June, 2008) published by Who's That Coeurl? Press.

She's been a featured reader at the Art Bar, and the I.V. Lounge (both in Toronto).

Carolyn was Poet Guest of Honor at these SF conventions:

Contradiction 14 in Niagara Falls, New York (November 4-6, 1994)
ValleyCon 22 in Fargo, North Dakota (October 10-12, 1997)
ConCat 10 in Knoxville, Tennessee (November 27-29, 1998)
Context 12 in Columbus, Ohio (October 8-10, 1999)
EerieCon 3 in Niagara Falls, New York (April 20-22, 2001)
CanCon 2001 in Ottawa, Ontario (August 17-19, 2001)
Minicon 38 in Minneapolis, Minnesota (April 18-20, 2003).

Editing & Judging:

Joined ChiZine Publications as an assistant poetry editor for their online magazine Chiaroscuro: Treatments of Light and Shade in Words. (2008)
Poetry judge for the "Writers on Eighth" competition in Dawson City, Yukon. (2007)
Edited Herb Kauderer's poetry chapbook Ghosts Dream of Madmen. (2002)
Poetry co-editor with Phyllis Gotlieb for TransVersions: An Anthology of New Fantastic Literature (Paper Orchid Press, Mississauga, October 2000).
Co-edited the acclaimed Canadian SF&F anthology Tesseracts 6, with Robert J. Sawyer. (Tesseract Books, Edmonton, December 1997).
Poetry judge for Early Harvest, a young-adult writing contest sponsored by the Vaughan Public Library. (1994, 1995)

[Transversions Anthology] Carolyn is a member of the Science Fiction Poetry Association, and both she and her brother David are members of the Algonquin Square Table poetry workshop, which meets every other Sunday, during the academic year, at the University of Toronto's Hart House; Carolyn and other members of her workshop gave a public reading there on November 24, 1999, and again on January 28, 2004.

Carolyn studied astrophysics for two years at the University of Toronto (1977-79), then earned a Bachelor of Technology degree in Graphic Arts Management from Toronto's Ryerson Polytechnic University (awarded 1983).

She worked for thirteen years for large commercial printing companies (Southam Murray and Quebecor Concord), the first five years as an estimator and the final eight as a production coordinator. In June 1997, she went to work full-time for Rob as his salaried assistant, in charge of all aspects of Rob's writing business except for the actual writing.

[Carolyn & David Clink] Carolyn is shown here with her brother David in 2001. (Photo by Peter Halasz) David has five poetry chapbooks. The first, His Name was Gord and he used to run with the bulls, was published by Junction Books in May 2001. The rest of his chapbooks were published by believe your own press: The Surly Blondes of Earth (February, 2002), A come-on from the horse on seventh avenue (October, 2002), Shapeshifter, (October, 2004), and One Dozen (May 2007).

His first real book of poetry, Eating Fruit Out Of Season from Tightrope Books, was launched July 10, 2008. His second book of poetry, Monster, was launched November 4, 2010. Also published by Tightrope. See his web site at poetrymachine.com.

You can email Carolyn Clink at: carolyn@sfwriter.com.

Check out Carolyn's embryonic web site at sfpoet.com.

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Science Fiction Writer ROBERT J. SAWYER Hugo and Nebula Award Winner

Carolyn Clink

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Science Fiction Writer
ROBERT J. SAWYER
Hugo and Nebula Award Winner