About Una McDonnell

Una McDonnell has recited her work in Ottawa, Kingston and Toronto, including the Ottawa Jazz Festival, On the Verge at the National Arts Centre, and on one occasion in a boxing ring (Jill Battson’s Fighting Words Series). She has appeared on Bravo!, CJOH Nightline and in The Ottawa Citizen.

Una holds an MFA in Creative Writing (A+ final grade) from the University of British Columbia. She has attended writing residencies and courses at The Banff Centre for the Arts and Sage Hill Writing Experience, and has worked with award-winning writers Diana Brebner, Catherine Bush, Don Domanski, Zsuzsi Gartner, Gary Geddes and Fred Stenston and Fred Wah.

Her work has appeared in Arc, The New Quarterly, Ottawater, Prairie Fire and Rampike, as well as four anthologies: Global Poetry Anthology, Signal Editions, 2017; Decalogue: Ten Ottawa Poets, Chaudiere Books, 2006; Musings: An Anthology of Greek-Canadian Literature, Vehicule Press, 2004; and Written in the Skin, Insomniac Press, 1998.

Una has been a finalist for ARC’s Poem of the Year Contest, The Diana Brebner Memorial Award, The Montreal International Poetry Prize, Prism International’s Pacific Spirit Poetry Prize, The Writer’s Union of Canada Prose Competition, and on three occasions, for the CBC Literary Awards.

She has won professional writer’s grants from The City of Ottawa, the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Quebec and The Canada Council for the Arts. She is currently a member of Place des Artistes de Farrellton, a studio community of Quebec artists.