“Vanessa wrote on the white wall with red marker.”
This diary entry was written about Vanessa Moeller when she was just one; it was a portent of things to come.
Now as a writer and passionate advocate for literacy and the arts, she doesn’t write on walls (much) anymore, but her words do occasionally appear on a billboard or two.
Selected Works
Our Extraordinary Monsters
Our Extraordinary Monsters uses languages to build a written architecture where meanings reside.
Within this imaginary space, the speaker’s constantly shifting identity as a poet, as a woman, as a second-generation German-Canadian immigrant to Atlantic Canada is examined and questioned.
Thought Forecasts
To commemorate the 10-year anniversary of her father’s death, Vanessa wrote one or two lines of observations, ideas, and interesting facts each day for a year that she then shared via social media.
Gene, the not so very keen bean
He’s small.
He’s unimpressed.
He’s filled with ennui.
He’s Eugene Bertrand Bean, a.k.a Gene, the not so very keen bean.
Cadence
A collection celebrating women’s voices in New Brunswick, Canada. These poems celebrate the province’s linguistic and cultural diversity with poems written in English, French, Vietnamese, German, and Arabic, some of which are featured in dual translation. Limited edition of 135 copies.
Frog Hollow Press
Harbour: A Compendium
22 creators working in a variety of literary and visual modes respond to Harbour, a group exhibition curated by Amy Ash.
Amy Ash Art & Engagement
The Great Draft in Which Words Fly
This limited-edition chapbook pairs five of Hilde Domin’s poems, newly translated by Vanessa Moeller, with “Van Gogh’s Shoes”, a suite of original poems by Allan Cooper.
Owl's Head Press
4’33” Is the Only Piece I Can Play on Piano
A polyphonic sound installation for interpenetrating voices.
Ask Your Body
A short film made in collaboration with Jennifer Bélanger for the Festival International du Cinéma Francophone en Acadie.
Say Nothing of It
An installation project combining printmaking with writing. In collaboration with Jeff Mann for Graveurs et Poètes, Atelier d'estampe Imago.
Awards
Honourable Mention, National Magazine Awards, Poetry Category • Atlantic Writing Competition, First Prize, Poetry (Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia) • Sir Charles G.D. Roberts Memorial Prize, Short Fiction (University of New Brunswick) • Bliss Carman Poetry Prize (University of New Brunswick) • Clare Murray Fooshee Poetry Prize (Dalhousie University)
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