Author Q&A with Christina Shah
Come with us on a short journey back to Fall 2025 to revisit if: prey, then: huntress. In this third "Author Q&A" for National Poetry Month 2026, get to know Christina Shah and learn why Tom Wayman said her poetry "pulses with an exuberant love of words."
Did anything surprise you during the process of writing or publishing if: prey, then: huntress?
How I was able to just get it done and figure it out, despite some major life events that were happening at the same time. There were a few twists and turns, but people were so generous — I’m very grateful for the support and good advice I received from other poets (and for Nightwood’s gentle hand with the text). This process sparked some new friendships as well!
Is there a sense, memory or feeling that embodies your book?
Between worlds. Survival. The frayed, faded denim of death and decay, embroidered with starbursts of odd, irreverent, everyday joy.
If your book were a meal, what would it be?
In keeping with both the title and the writing process, the collection methods would be a central focus. Foraged, wild caught/harvested, pickled and handmade. There’d be some brining, and plenty of fermenting. Wild salmon with some pine mushrooms, sesame oil and ginger en papillote — as there’d have to be paper involved. Artisan rye sourdough bread. Pickled asparagus, local greens. Sparkling tea or natural wine. Add a homemade lemon pound cake with fresh raspberries for good measure! Shared with friends.
What lives on your writing desk?
Right now, a copy of the Vancouver Industrial Writers’ Union’s wonderful work poetry anthology, Shop Talk (Pulp Press, 1985), my pen, notebook and laptop, a full-spectrum task lamp, a little coffee mug sporting a hand-painted typewriter, flowers, and a hairline crack, as well as a red crocheted coaster I made in the shape of a coffee cup. With coffee rings on it, for authenticity. Bonus points: a neon Post-it Note to-do list (referred to as ‘the Hydra’).
What is a fun fact about yourself?
I’m an avid mushroom forager (fortunately, I’m still alive). I do enjoy combining a hike with an edible treasure hunt!
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In her much-anticipated debut collection, Christina Shah captures the landscape of heavy industry in Canada through the perceptive eyes of a poet.
From a poet working in heavy industry comes an eclectic collection of observations and experiences as a woman on the road and out in the field in traditionally male-dominated environments. if: prey, then: huntress is an exploration of vulnerability, agency and existential homelessness, replete with portraits of beer drinkers and hellraisers and urban landscapes. These poems illuminate the beauty and truth amid the concrete, twisted metal and scraped knuckles.
At a time when Western Canada is reimagining its resource-based economy, Shah’s poems position her as a wandering eulogist for old industrial ways of knowing—and for their greying practitioners in the mines, paper mills, shipyards and scrapyards that undergird modern life. The reader is invited into a world that, like the breath, is both dying and being born every minute.
Christina Shah lives in New Westminster and works in heavy industry, where she drinks from the firehose of knowledge. Her poetry has appeared in numerous Canadian literary journals. Her work has been shortlisted for the Fiddlehead’s 2021 Ralph Gustafson Poetry Prize and has appeared in Best Canadian Poetry 2023. She is one-fifth of the Harbour Centre 5 poetry collective, whose chapbook, Brine, was released in 2022. Her first video poem, “rig veda” (in collaboration with videographer Mark Mushet), was translated into Spanish and screened internationally. rig veda, her first solo chapbook (Anstruther Press), received an honourable mention for the bpNichol Chapbook Award in 2024. if: prey, then: huntress is her first full-length poetry collection.