Calder was born in London, England on 21 December 1969 and grew up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.[1] She studied at the University of Saskatchewan, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts, and at the University of Western Ontario where she earned a Master of Arts and a PhD in English Literature.[1] She was also a Distinguished Junior Scholar in Residence at the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, University of British Columbia.[2]
In 2004, she won the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers.[3]
Calder wrote a collection of essays in 2005 called History, Literature, and the Writing of the Canadian Prairies which examines literary criticism.[1]
Her debut collection of poetry, Wolf Tree, was published in 2007.[1] It won the 2008 Aqua Books Lansdowne Prize for Poetry and the Eileen McTavish Sykes Award for Best First Book by a Manitoba Author at the 2008 Manitoba Book Awards.[4] It was a finalist for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award.[1] Her second collection, In the Tiger Park, was published in 2014 and was a finalist for the Lansdowne Prize for Poetry.[5]
She also co-wrote the chapbook Ghost Works: Improvisations in Letters and Poems, with Jeanette Lynes.[5]
She lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba and works in the English Department at the University of Manitoba, where she teaches literature and creative writing. She is married to writer Warren Cariou.[1][4]
