Allison Grayhurst 

(2017)

Contact links:

E-mail: allisongrayhurst@rogers.com: allisongrayhurst@rogers.com

Amazon Author Page: amazon.com/author/allisongrayhurst

LinkedIn: http://lnkd.in/mE3NYf

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1937690.Allison_Grayhurst

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/allison.grayhurst

Poets&Writers: http://www.pw.org/content/allison_grayhurst

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AllisonGrayhurst/videos

Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/allison-grayhurst-poet

Store: https://allisongrayhurst.com/shop/

Bio:

(2018)

Born: October 28, 1966 

Grew up in Montreal, Spain, Toronto

Lives now:  in Toronto, Canada with my family: husband/soulmate – singer/songwriter/author/cartoonist Kyp Harness http://kypharness.net/ (married 1995), our two children, Ava and Clay, and animal family. (Please scroll down to the bottom to see links to Kyp Harness’ music, literary fictional books, comic strip, and Laurel & Hardy and Charlie Chaplin books).

Sculpting in clay for 23 years. My mentor/teacher was Elizabeth Fraser Williamson who passed away over a decade ago at the age of 87. My primary focus is sculpting people’s faces.

Writers/poets/philosophers/musicians/artists/people who have inspired me: Rainer Maria Rilke, Dostoyevsky, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Dylan Thomas, Theodore Roethke, Sylvia Plath, James Baldwin, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Thomas Hardy, Kyp Harness, Van Morrison, Homer, Euripides, Pablo Neruda, Kate Bush, Mozart’s The Requiem, Yoko Ono, Rodin, Van Gough, Elizabeth Fraser Williamson, Joni Mitchell, Jane Goodall, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Bela Bartok.

Spiritual beliefs: Follower of Jesus. No church. No religion. Just the Gospels. “The Message” by Eugene H. Peterson. Vegetarian since I was 13 years old-  don’t believe in killing or the causing of unnecessary pain/torture to any living being. In 2014 I changed to a vegan diet in order to embrace a more compassionate lifestyle and because I am an environmentalist;  http://www.cowspiracy.com/facts/

I took a 15 year hiatus from the poetry publishing world in order to raise my children. My nine books, two collections and chapbook all published in 2012 are the result of the writing I continued to do during that time.

I am a full member of the League of Canadian Poets since 2014.

I have been nominated for my poems six times for Sundress Publications “Best of the Net” 2015/2017/2018/2024.

(In 2015: Indiana Voice Journal, May 2015 – one poem nominated. In 2015: Juxtaprose Literary Magazine, April 2015 – two poems nominated. In 2017: Synchronized Chaos, May 2017 – one eight-part story-poem nominated . In 2018: The Bees Are Dead, June 2018 – one poem nominated. In 2024: Synchronized Chaos, September 2024 – one 34-part poem nominated.)

In 2018, my book Sight at Zero, was listed #34 on CBC’s “Your Ultimate Canadian Poetry List”.

 

In 2025, my work was translated into Italian and published in “International Web Post.” Also, fifteen poems was translated into Portuguese and posted On FaceBook

In 2024, my work was translated into Italian and published in “Italia News Media – Alessandria Today”, in “Saturno Magazine” and in “Il Vischio e la Rosa” anthology, into Albanian in “Orfeu.AL” in “Gazeta Destinacioni”, and in “Ciceroni”, and also into Korean in “Jeju The Pen Literature..

In 2023, my work was translated in Korean and published in “Jnuri Magazine”.

In 2020, my work was translated into Chinese and published “Rendition of International Poetry Quarterly Vol 98”, and in “Poetry Hall issue 7”.

https://allisongrayhurst.com/translation-of-poems/

 

Collaborating with Allison Grayhurst on the lyrics, Vancouver-based singer/songwriter/musician Diane Barbarash has transformed eight of my poems into songs, creating a full album. “River – Songs from the poetry of Allison Grayhurst”, released October 2017. 

Click to access river-songs-from-the-poetry-of-allison-grayhurst-booklet.pdf

https://itunes.apple.com/ca/album/river-songs-from-the-poetry-of-allison-grayhurst/id1293420648

 

I have been interviewed eleven times in print, as well as a TV interview, with translations of my interviews in Italian and Albanian, published in Italy, England and Kosovo. All interviews can be seen here:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/interviews/

Publications:

 (2020)

More than 1400 of my poems have been published in over 540 international literary magazines, journals and anthologies in Canada, United States, England, India, Ireland, China, Scotland, Wales, Austria, Romania, New Zealand, Zambia, Nepal, Korea, Italy, Bangladesh, Turkey, Kosovo, Colombia and Australia. Many of my published poems are on this website.

Some of places my work has appeared in include Parabola (Alone & Together print issue summer 2012); SUFI Journal (Featured Poet in Issue #95, Sacred Space); Elephant Journal; Literary Orphans; Blue Fifth Review; The American Aesthetic, Agave Magazine; JuxtaProse Literary Magazine, South Florida Arts Journal; Gris-Gris; New Binary Press Anthology; The Brooklyn Voice; Straylight Literary Magazine; The Milo Review; Foliate Oak Literary Magazine; The Antigonish Review; Dalhousie Review; The New Quarterly; Wascana Review; Poetry Nottingham International; The Cape Rock; Ayris; Journal of Contemporary Anglo-Scandinavian Poetry (now called The Journal); The Toronto Quarterly; Fogged Clarity, Existere; Boston Poetry Magazine; Decanto; White Wall Review.  

(2013)

My book Somewhere Falling was published by Beach Holme Publishers, a Porcepic Book, in Vancouver in 1995. Since then, 21 other books of my poetry and 12 collections have been published with Edge Unlimited Publishing.

 (2011)

Journey of the Awakening, 1997; The Longing to Be, 1998; Death and Other Possibilities, 2000; Outliving the Inevitable, 2002; Into My Mortal, 2004; Red thread – Black thread, 2006; The Many Lights of Eden, 2008; Pushing Through The Jelly Fire, 2010; The River is Blind, 2012; Seamless – A Collection of Love Poems, 2012; If I Get There – Poems of Faith and Doubt, a collection, 2012 – written in their respective years and all published in 2012 by Edge Unlimited Publishing. For Every Rain – a collection of early poems and Jumana and Perfect Love – two poetic prose pieces, were both written in the late 1980s and early 1990s and published in 2013, Edge Unlimited Publishing.

Prior to the publication of Somewhere Falling I had a poetry book published, Common Dream, 1991, and four chapbooks Before the Dawn, Joshua’s Shoulder, Perfect Love and Jumana, all published in 1989 by The Plowman, under the pseudonym Jocelyn Kain.

My poetry chapbook The River is Blind was published by Ottawa publisher above/ground press December 2012. 

In 2014 my chapbook Surrogate Dharma was published by Kind of a Hurricane Press, Barometric Pressures Author Series.

In 2015 my book No Raft – No Ocean was published by Scars Publications.

My book Make the Wind was published in 2016 by Scars Publications.

My book Trial and Witness – selected poems, was published in 2016 with Creative Talents Unleashed (CTU Publishing Group).

My book Tadpoles Find the Sun was published in 2020 by Cyberwit.

My book Running, lightwave riding was published in 2023 by Cyberwit.

My three books entitled Wallpaper Stars and Walkways and Fire and more, were published in 2013, 2014, and 2016 respectively. As well, I put out two other collections in 2013 Seamless and If I Get There – poems of Faith and Doubt. As My Blindness Burns – three long poems, was published in 2014. My collection Our Children are Orchards – collected poems about animals, children and pregnancy was published in 2015. My collection Current – pastlife poems was published in 2016. The Fault of Sages was published in 2017.

Sight at Zero – selected poems (1988 to 2017) was published in 2017.

The Poetry of Allison Grayhurst – completed works from 1988 to 2017 (Volume 1 of 5), (Volume 2 of 5), (Volume 3 of 5), (Volume 4 of 5), and (Volume 5 of 5)  were all published in 2017. The Poetry of Allison Grayhurst – Collections from 1988 to 2017 (Volume 6) was also published in 2017.

The Sculptures of Allison Grayhurst was published in 2018.

Animal Culture (rules of commitment) was published in 2018.

Snapshots was published in 2019.

If I Knew This Haunting was published in 2019.

Tadpoles Find the Sun was published in 2020.

Ways of Mercy was published in 2021

The Poetry of Allison Grayhurst – completed works from 2018 to 2021 (Volume 7) was published in 2021.

A Wish Alone was published in 2022.

Comments on The poetry of Allison Grayhurst (from 2011 to 2023) was published in  2023.

Running, lightwave riding was published in 2023.

The Light Given was published in 2024.

My Mother’s Sky was published in 2024.

Walkways – the poem was published in 2024.

New Wheel – five long poems was published in 2024.

The Sparrow Wars, published was published in 2025.

The Poetry of Allison Grayhurst – completed works from 2022 to 2025 (Volume 8) was published in 2025.

(2013) (2014) (2014) (2015) (2016) (2016) (2017) (2017) (2017) (2017) (2017) (2017) (2017) (2017) (2018)

(2018) (2019) (2019) (2021) (2021) (2022) (2023) (2024)

(2024) (2024) (2024) (2025)

(2025) (2026)

(2012) (2014) (2015) (2016)

(2016) (2020)

(2023)

 

(Please note, only previously published poems are posted on this website).

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Over 1400 published poems are available to read on this website. All of these poems are accompanied by my audio reading of the poem.

All of my books are available to purchase in paperback, kindle and hardcover versions on Amazon internationally.

As well, you can purchase a download of a PDF version of my books on my website store here:

https://allisongrayhurst.com/shop/

 (1995) (poetry reading)

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Kyp Harness

 (photograph by Ava Harness)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyp_Harness

http://kypharness.net/

amazon.com/author/kypharness

https://allisongrayhurst.com/kyp-harness/

Quotes about Kyp Harness:

“A great writer.”

Daniel Lanois

“One of the finest songwriters on the planet.”
Ron Sexsmith

“Kyp Harness has amassed a songbook that should rightfully be regarded as a national treasure. ..Discover the brilliance that is Harness’ way with a song. Songwriting Genius.”
Exclaim Magazine

“Kyp Harness is one of the finest songwriters this city – if not this country – has seen. (Kyp Harness has assembled) one of this country’s best songbooks.”
Eye Magazine

“I won’t mince words: Right now, Kyp Harness is the most vital, essential Canadian singer-songwriter out there.”
Calgary Straight

“No-one who professes to care about songwriting in this country or any other can afford to ignore him any longer.”
ID Magazine

“One of the finest songwriters this country has produced.”
Moncton Times Transcript

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Kyp Harness’ music:

.https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kyp+harness

 

Kyp Harness’ fiction novel “The Abandoned” published by Nightwood Editions, October 2018

https://www.amazon.com/Abandoned-Kyp-Harness/dp/0889713456/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1687524150&sr=1-4

 

Kyp Harness’ fiction novel “Wigford Rememberies” published by Nightwood Editions, May 2016

Winner of “The ReLit Awards” for a Novel

http://therelitawards.blogspot.com/2018/07/2017-relit-winners.html

https://www.amazon.com/Wigford-Rememberies-Kyp-Harness/dp/0889713197/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1687524150&sr=1-3

Link to an interview about the book:

http://www.verbicidemagazine.com/2016/05/26/kyp-harness-interview/

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Kyp Harness’ comic strip “Mortimer the Slug”:

http://mortimertheslugcomic.com/

or

http://www.mortimertheslug.com/

 

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Kyp Harness’ McFarland-published books “The Art of Laurel and Hardy” and “The Art of Charlie Chaplin”:

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Laurel-Hardy-Graceful-Calamity/dp/0786424400/

http://www.amazon.com/Art-Charlie-Chaplin-Film-Film/dp/0786431938/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpi_1%20

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Allison Grayhurst’s Background:

Allison Grayhurst was born in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, lived in Dénia, Spain for a year, grew up in Montreal, Quebec, then moved to Toronto, Ontario.

Her father Denis Grayhurst was born in Karachi (India at the time) in 1934 to a mother of mixed Indian and British descent and a father of British descent. Denis Grayhurst moved to London, England when he was 14 years old and later moved to Canada. He was a journalist and editor at the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, where he was the recipient of the The Willian Southam Journalism Fellowship award in 1965-1966. Later he was a journalist and editor at The Montreal Star and a journalist and editor at The Toronto Star. He died in 1996.

Her mother, Eileen Grayhurst (a.k.a. Lee Porter) was born as Irene Pokrywka in 1930 Kitchener, Ontario, one of 18 siblings. Both of her parents were born in Poland (Austria at the time). Eileen Grayhurst was also a journalist, a PR person at Jasper Lodge in Alberta where she befriended Marilyn Monroe. She later became a journalist at the Sarnia Observer, a journalist at the Kitchener-Waterloo Record and a journalist in Montreal. She died in 2024.

Allison Grayhurst has one brother, Geoffrey Grayhurst, CEO of Dorsay Development Corporation.

Allison Grayhurst is married (1995) to Canadian singer-songwriter/novelist Kyp Harness. Currently living in Toronto, they have two children, Ava Harness (1997), and Clay Harness (2001).

 

Ava Harness graduated with a BA in Film, winning the Toronto Youth Shorts Festival Director’s Award of Recognition in 2019. She works at Toronto City Hall as an assistant for a Toronto City Councilor.

 

Clay Harness is a Graphic Design graduate and a professional Muay Thai fighter. In 2025 he won the Muay Thai Ontario Provincial Gold Medal Championship.

 

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