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Poet, Publisher, and Award Winning Expressive Writing/Transformative Language Arts Facilitator, Margot Van Sluytman, was born in Guyana, South America. She immigrated to Canada in the late 1960s, completing her studies in Philosophy from the University of Waterloo and The University of Toronto, and Editing and Book Design from Centennial College. She has published twelve books of poetry and has been published in magazines, journals, and eZines around the world. |
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Her
belief in the fact of words/palabras/poetry, as both art and healing, has
offered her the gift of meeting and speaking with kindred individuals who
know that word and story are not frills, but rather the foundation which
permits a depth of understanding and connecting with self, with other,
with a spiritual space that speaks to transformation. And joy. Her unfolding work with Restorative Justice and Transformative Justice has inspired the creation of The Sawbonna Project http://www.Sawbonna.com Both Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, and Professor Howard Zehr, respected as the Father of Restorative Justice, have affirmed and continues to affirm and support Margot's work, which includes a new book entitled: Sawbonna: I See You. Dialogue of Hope. Professor Zehr wrote the Foreword to that book, and Sr. Helen Prejean offered Margot a quotation to use on the book's cover. Margot is the recipient of a Scholarship for the Thomas Merton Institute for Contemplative Living. She received the Seeds of Joy Award from the Foundation of the National Association for Poetry Therapy. As per Normandi Ellis, and the awards committee, "Margot, you are a worthy recipient of this award, for your work in facilitating growth experiences through experiential workshops in writing and healing voice." Margot
has been invited to speak and lecture at colleges, universities,
spirituality centres, women’s groups, schools, health and wellness
venues in many countries. She has had the honour of reading with
Theologian Ronald Rolheiser from her book of poetry: Of Dark Night:
Poems of Journey-Poems of Arrival, and had had the pleasure of
deep dialogue with poet, modern-day mystic, and healer, Edwina Gateley,
who as well, resonates with the salient fact that ‘to dance with words,
is to be nourished’. As Edwina’s book, A
Warm, Moist, Salty God, speaks to Margot, Margot’s book, morning tasting whispers,
speaks to Edwina. She was invited to share her work with poetry as both art and healing, in Matthew Fox's brilliant weekend workshop The Greening of Spirituality, at the Gaia Centre in Ontario. This fascinating experience of the dance between the wild Divine Feminine and the awakening Sacred Masculine was richly infused with the raw and important aspect of creativity’s place in birthing hope and significant paradigm shifts in humanity’s necessary unfolding process. For Margot, to share her content alongside Matthew Fox, who is one of the world's leading thinkers: passionate and provoking, was a sheer gift of deep affirmation of poetry’s voice and vision. Michael
Soentgerath, Diocesan Director, Religious Education Secretariat
& Health Care Apostolate, R.C. Diocese of Calgary, says this of
Margot’s content: Margot’s approach validates the
human spirit and psyche yet does not impose religious sentiment nor negate
values and personal beliefs. Margot stresses the divine element within all
human beings and references the importance of being “in touch” with
our spiritual self. Margot
has a beautiful gift of being able to stimulate and animate her audience
into a self-reflective / introspective mode that allows one to access more
profoundly one’s personal emotions and sensitivities to inner
woundedness, grief or unresolved issues. Several
of Margot’s books, and the books published by her small poetry press,
Palabras Press, are used for the Poetry in the Waiting Room Project,
Southampton, England. She recently spoke and presented her workshop at The University of Alberta’s St. Stephen’s Theological College and in their Arts and Humanities in Health and Medicine. Margot
has had the pleasure of dialoguing with Diarmuid O’Murchu, whose books: Reclaiming
Spirituality and Quantum Theology, she sees as
modern-day masterpieces of philosophy and spirituality, which underscore
the poignant and vivid voice of spirituality’s raw delight as found in
word/story/imagination/metaphor. Gaia’s delight. Of her newest book Contemplative Waiting~Write Into the Heart of Your Spiritual Journey, Diarmuid O’Murchu has said, "I thought many times of Thomas Merton as I read through Margot’s poems. The contemplative waiting becomes an awakening in which the sacred breaks through even in the mundane and ordinary." He Press has published a book entitled: Layers of Possibility: Healing Poetry from NAPT Members. This book features the poetry of the poet-healers, and a Foreword by Robert Carroll, MD, of the Department of Psychiatry of UCLA. Margot has published a companion to this book as well, entitled: Layers of Possibility: Writing and Art Journal that is a book with vital quotations/writing prompts to inspire you to write your voice. Diane Allerdyce, Poet, PhD, states on the cover of this Journal, “May the words in your soul spring forth on these pages to soften and enrich your life.” Margot
has created a six-segment TV Show with Cogeco TV entitled: Dance With
Your Words: Poetry is Art and Healing, which continues to be aired in
Ontario. Her book, Dance
With Your Healing: tears let me begin to speak, Poetry and Journal for
Your Healing Words,
accompanies this series and has been receiving attention from some very
kindred and vital voices. She presented this work at the Annual
Conference for The National Association for Poetry Therapy in April 2007. According
to Poet and Psychologist, Perie Longo, PhD,
MFT, RPT, Margot's
deeply felt, generous poems and exercises, in the tradition of 'Call and
Response', from Dance With
Your Healing~tears let me begin to speak, is a dance well worth the taking to lighten any heart who has
suffered. Margot has traveled extensively, living for a year and a half in Venezuela, teaching English and Art, learning Spanish, reading Pablo Neruda close to his home country of Chile, and discovering the work of Spanish poet Antonio Machado, tasting the air and food of Brazil, and returning to Guyana to reconnect with roots, seeking out and finding the graves of her Great Grand Parents, filling her soul with images and sounds which infuse her poetry and teaching with content and perspectives that fire her students and listeners. Her most recent published works include: morning tasting whispers, conjurer: the magic knows, Dance With Your Healing~tears let me begin to speak, somewhere beyond: poems dancing with godde, god, pilgrimage, and pulsating love. Her book, chagall, the mountain, and lake louise: love poems, and Essential Dialogue. She has also produced a CD
entitled, Poetry Readings, which consists of a selection
of her reading poems from her first three books: Feeding
Dreams, Bleeding Pupils and Beauty, Alba the Spanish Woman. Montreal artist, Caroline Archambault, painted twenty-one of Margot's poems in an Ekphrastic dance, highlighting the natural affinity between word and paint. The show entitled 'dialogue', which underscored an inspiring symbiotic-siblingry, was launched at Galerie le 1040, Montreal, most of the painting and poetry books sold were sold on the first of five nights. Margot was short-listed for the Canadian
Literary Awards for her work, Pieces From the Same Puzzle,
and Pieces From the Same Puzzle Too. She received an Ontario
Arts Council Grant for her play: Red Parrot Speaks. Her International on-line writing group: www.Dance-With-Words.com attracts brilliant poets, whose work continues to become known and valued. Some of the esteemed members are: Eric Ashford, Roger Humes, Patti Sinclair, Douglas E. Fireman, Cathy Sabala, misty santana, Genevieve Nolet, and NM Rai. Margot is a Member of the National Association for Poetry Therapy and the Society for Arts in Healthcare. Margot believes in and teaches the fact that: to dance with words, is to be nourished. Margot Van Sluytman |
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