With intoxicating fervour, Karen Shklanka's new poetry collection, Ceremony of Touching, winds its way through time and place to bring you the stories of everyday people. From her real-life experience as a doctor trying her best to heal patients, to war-era Japan, and the devastation of Hiroshima, Shklanka's poems beg us to witness and explore our own humanity: how we interact with one another, carry on in everyday life, love, grieve. Poems such as "Witness", "Ceremonies for Despair", and "One by One" are incredible examples of how Shklanka's poems, while varied in both style and perspective, retain a powerful, captivating voice that creates a common thread, guiding the reader through the collection.

Karen Shklanka is a poet, a family physician and, with her husband, an Argentine Tango dance instructor. Her poetry was included in the 2004 chapbook anthology, Letters We Never Sent, edited by Patrick Lane. She was twice a finalist in ARC magazine's international poem contest, in 2005 and 2006, and has been published in numerous other literary periodicals. Sumac's Red Arms is her first book publication.Born in Toronto, Karen Shklanka spent 18 years practicing rural and emergency medicine in small and medium-sized Canadian communities. She has lived in Vancouver, Australia, Regina, Houston, Los Angeles and Moose Factory, Ontario, and on Salt Spring Island. She received her M.D. in 1988, and, in 1990, received the top mark in Canada from the Canadian College of Family Physicians. She currently serves as a Clinical Instructor in the Faculty of Family Medicine at UBC.More info on Karen: http://alumni.med.ubc.ca/communications/alumni-in-profile-archive/karen-shklanka-md88-mfa12/

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