"Cactus Gardens explores the complexity and intensity of personal relationships."--
Evelyn Lau is the Vancouver author of thirteen books, including eight volumes of poetry. Her memoir Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid (HarperCollins, 1989), published when she was eighteen, was made into a CBC movie starring Sandra Oh in her first major role. Evelyn's prose books have been translated into a dozen languages; her poetry has received the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award, the Pat Lowther Award for best book of poetry by a Canadian woman, and a National Magazine Award, as well as nominations for a BC Book Prize and a Governor-General's Award. Her poems have been chosen numerous times for inclusion in the Best Canadian Poetry series, and she has been writer-in- residence at UBC, Kwantlen College and Vancouver Community College as well as Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Calgary. From 2011-2014, Evelyn served as Poet Laureate for the City of Vancouver.