Essays and Other Writing

Writing in its many forms has always been an interest. During my years in education, for example, I co-authored a Senior English writing text book, The Writer Within: Dialogue and Discovery (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989) with educator Trina Wood, and my work appeared from time to time in education related publications.

In recent years, in addition to poetry, a number of my reflective essays incorporating both poetry and prose have appeared in various books/anthologies. This section includes a selection of excerpts from some of those essays. The excerpts can be accessed below by clicking on the titles.

The Excerpts:

"Where Surf Meets Shore: Reflections from the Edge"

"Points of Articulation: A Letting Go and a Reaching Towards, A Poet’s Journey"

New Publications in Journals/Other

Poem, "Against All Odds," in The Maynard online Journal, Spring 2019 Issue.

Poem “There’s Superradiance” in Vallum, Contemporary Poetry, Issue 16:1, Connections, pg. 17

Review #242, Feb 1st, 2018, of Trailer Park Elegy (2017) by Cornelia Hoogland, Harbour Publishing: “A brotherly love revisited,” by Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes, in The Ormsby Review”

Readings & Events

• Slender Certainties:
  Launch:
  Society Clubhouse
  967 College Street
  May 24, 2025,
  Doors open at 1:30 - Readings begin at 2:00pm.


• Heart-Threads: Bonds that Bind:
  A National Poetry Month Reading
  by the Long Dash Group, and Launch of our Chapbook by the same name
  Wednesday, April 30, 2025, 7:00-8:30pm
  At the Foy House,
  92 Isabella Street, Toronto


• A video of Mary Lou Soutar-Hynes reading from Any Waking Morning (Inanna Publications, 2019).


• In September 2020, Mary Lou joined other Toronto poets from the Long Dash Group to film a C0VID-delayed, outdoor reading in celebration of National Poetry Month.