On Oct. 26, the 36th book in the St. Thomas Poetry Series will be launched at St. Thomas, Huron Street: O is for Christmas: A Midwinter Night’s Dream by Mia Anderson. The reading will begin at 2:30 p.m. and will be live streamed on the church’s YouTube channel. Ms. Anderson will be introduced by fellow writer Peter Norman.
Ms. Anderson was born and raised in Toronto, securing her undergraduate degree through Trinity College’s well-known “English Lang and Lit” program at the University of Toronto, and later completed her MA in English at Trinity. She then spent more than 25 years on the stage in England and Canada.
After joining John Tuttle’s choir at St. Thomas, Huron Street, she was called to ordained ministry and returned to Trinity College and the Toronto School of Theology. After receiving her MDiv in 2000, she was appointed to the Anglican parish of St. Michael’s in Québec City. She is now retired and lives in Quebec.
As a poet, Ms. Anderson began publishing in the 1980s. Her newest collection is a Christmas book with two Advent sequences, the first inspired by the O Antiphons and the second by the opening of doors on an Advent calendar. These are followed by her delightful rendering of the tale of Good King Wenceslas.
Archbishop Rowan Williams, with whom Ms. Anderson had served an internship while she prepared for ordination, has provided a foreword for the book. He describes her wit in the following terms: “the wit always grows from a resonant awareness of how language plays until it finds its centre of gravity, oscillating over insights so poignant and demanding that they take up long-term residence in the heart.” His endorsement of her work rings with enthusiasm: “Wonderful poems, satisfying, moving, unsettling, technically elegant, sensual; readers can round out their mouths with an O of thanksgiving.”
St. Thomas Poetry Series
I keep rubber shoes under my desk