Deborah Fannie Miller

Miller’s poetry has been showcased on CBC Radio, The Women’s Television Network, and Vision TV. She has been widely published in literary journals throughout Canada and is in two anthologies: Tributes in Verse and Writing the Terrain: Travelling through Alberta with the Poets. She has had three collections of poetry published. Her first, I Will Burn Candles, was published by Bayeux Arts in 1995, as was her second, Grandmother’s Radio, in 2002, co-authored by Susanne Heinz. Vision TV produced Two Worlds Apart? a frequently repeated short film about Grandmother’s Radio. Her third collection, Landing at Night, came out in 2008, and her first children’s book, Grappling with the Grumblies, came out in April 2009. In March 2011, Grappling with the Grumblies won “The Steffie Young Readers Choice Award.” Juggling the Jitters came out in August of 2013.

As a trained actor and singer (BFA in Drama from Scripps College in California, post graduate work at the Goodman Theatre School in Chicago, Alum of both The Opera and Music Theatre Programs at the Banff School of Fine Arts) Deborah brings a love of performing as well as performing expertise to all her presentations. Deborah was a poetry editor of Dandelion Literary Journal and is a member of the Writers Guild of Alberta, the League of Canadian Poets, the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, The Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers, and the Young Alberta Books Society.

“Everyone grapples with the grumblies from time to time, but this lovely (and funny!) book will help your child—and you—discover new ways of dealing with difficult feelings. I recommend it for anyone who has ever had a rough day and had trouble turning things around. In other words, it’s a great book for every family.”
— Lawrence Cohen, Ph.D., child psychologist and author of the award-winning book, Playful Parenting

“There is a gentle, a wistful wisdom that sings with quiet eloquence in the poems of Deborah Miller.”
— Glen Sorestad, First Poet Laureate of Saskatchewan, Member of the Order of Canada

“Her poems are as sharp as a stiletto, merciless in their honesty, as hard on herself as others, totally without sentimentality.”
— Christopher Wiseman, award-winning poet, Member of the Order of Canada

“The poems are so right, so challenging. They’ll make you angry. Sometimes they’ll cause you to laugh, but more often they’ll bring you to tears.”
— Robert Hilles, Governor General’s award-winning poet