Barbara Nickel's young adult novel The Secret Wish of Nannerl Mozart was shortlisted for the Mr. Christie Book Award, the Geoffrey Bilson Award and the Red Cedar Award. Her adult poetry The Gladys Elegies won the 1997 Pat Lowther Award. Her poem "Night Harvest", in From the Top of a Grain Elevator received Honourable Mention in the B.C. Federation of Writers Literary Rites "Writing for Children" Contest in 1994.
In addition to her award-winning books, she has been published in a number of anthologies and journals, including Breathing Fire: Canada's New Poets, Meltwater: Fiction and Poetry from the Banff Centre for the Arts, Poetry Ireland Review, The Antigonish Review, The Fiddlehead, Poetry Canada Review, Prairie Fire, Contemporary Verse 2, Grain, NeWest Review, Event, and The Malahat Review. Her sequence of poems, "The Rosary Sonatas", won The Malahat Review 1995 Long Poem Prize and received Honourable Mention in the 1996 National Magazine Awards. She won the Contemporary Verse 2 Poetry Contest in 1995.
Nickel's play, SchumannBrahmSchumann was selected as a "Pick of the Fringe" at the 1998 Vancouver Fringe Festival and received Honourable Mention in Theatre B.C.'s 1998 National Playwriting Competition.
Barbara Nickel holds an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, where she was the poetry editor of Prisminternational and has also instructed writing classes. She lives in St. John's Newfoundland.
From the Top of a Grain Elevator returns to her prairie roots in a beautiful collection of seasonal poems that chart, with a birds-eye view of the western landscape, nature's glorious playground. Following the slough cycle and the gradual metamorphosis of the land itself, Nickel animates both nature and the children who love to revel in its altered terrains. From a chorus of ornery bullfrogs to secret forts beneath the the caragana, from the hustle of the town-and-country fair to forty-below pilgrimages to the rink, we relive the thrill of discovery.
Nickel allows us the taste of crabapples and saskatoons, the sight of endless golden wheat fields, gopher chases and brilliant northern lights, the sound of June thunder- storms and distant train whistles echoing across the prairie, the touch of icy snow against our wrists while making snow angels, the feel of the velvet-backed crocus in springtime. Nickel's experimental verses are perfectly complemented by Kathy Theissen's black and white etchings making this ideal for any young Canadian: prairie-dweller, would-be poet or otherwise.
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