The over thirty poems in this collection have been written out of the passionate necessity of making sense of our lives as parents. Gifts: Poems for Parents represents the breadth of talent of Canada' leading writers and poets, including Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, P.K. Page, Susan Glickman and Bronwen Wallace.

These mothers and fathers write wisely about their sons and daughters in language that is engaging, descriptive and moving. Their imagery and insights take us inside the varied experiences of parenting; the birth of a baby and the first moments of connection; a first trip to the beach; the desperate panic of losing sight of a child at a busy fair; hearing first words; offering comfort after a bad dream; watching the transformation into maturity.

Black and white photographs combined with an elegant design complement these poems' graceful charm. Gifts is perfect for Mother's or Father's Day, for those new to parenting or those wearied by it, and for any one struggling with the complex joy and labour of raising children in this difficult world.

The poems in Gifts form a human and intelligent chronicle of the remedial joys and difficult sorrows that being a parent entails.

Rhea Tregebov is the author of seven critically acclaimed books of poetry, most recently All Souls' (Wolsak & Wynn, 2019). She has also published five popular children's picture books including The Big Storm and What-If Sara, which are set in Winnipeg. She has edited ten anthologies of essays, poetry and fiction, most recently Arguing with the Storm. Her work has received a number of literary prizes, including the Nancy Richler Award for fiction (for Rue des Rosiers) as well as the Segal , Prairie Schooner Readers' Choice Award, and the Malahat Review Long Poem Award for her poetry. Rue des Rosiers is her second novel. The Knife Sharpener’s Bell, her first, won the J.I. Segal Prize in English Fiction. Born in Saskatoon and raised in Winnipeg, Tregebov lived for many years in Toronto, working as a freelance writer, editor, and instructor. From 2005 to 2017 she taught Creative Writing at UBC. She is now an Associate Professor Emerita at UBC. 

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