The driving impulse of Amy LeBlanc's new collection of poetry, I used to live here, is an examination of chronic illness, disability, and autoimmunity. The collection also aims to find moments of magic and ritual within the experience of illness and to find new metaphors for illness and autoimmunity that do not rely on militarization, self-cannibalism, or suicide. LeBlanc thinks deeply about autoimmunity and the poetic representations of the body that self-destructs and that cannot recognize itself? specifically, she asks: What does a body feel like when it doesn't feel like a home? What does it look like when a body self-destructs? How do we write through and about bodily doubt?

(From Porcupine's Quill)

I Used to Live Here is available in April 2025.

Amy LeBlanc is a Calgary-based writer. Her previous works include the poetry collection I know something you don't know, which was longlisted for the ReLit Award and a finalist for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, the novella Unlocking, which was a finalist for Trade Fiction Book of the Year and the short story collection Homebodies. Her writing has been featured in Room, Arc and Canadian Literature, among others. She is the recipient of the 2020 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award and is a PhD candidate in english and creative writing at the University of Calgary.