About the League of Canadian Poets
The League of Canadian Poets is the professional organization for established and emerging Canadian poets. Founded in 1966 to nurture the advancement of poetry in Canada, and the promotion of the interests of poets, it now comprises some 700 members. The League serves the poetry community and promotes a high level of professional achievement through events, networking, projects, publications, mentoring and awards. It administers programs and funds for governments and private donors and encourages an appreciative readership and audience for poetry through educational partnerships and presentations to diverse groups. As the recognized voice of Canadian poets, it represents their concerns to governments, publishers, and society at large, and maintains connections with similar organizations at home and abroad. The League strives to promote equal opportunities for poets from every literary tradition and cultural and demographic background.
Making the Damn Thing Work: An informal look at the early days of the League of Canadian Poets prepared for it’s 35th birthday by Raymond Souster, with the kind assistance of Carleton Wilson.
A Selective History of the League of Canadian Poets: The following short and by no means complete or official history of the League was culled from Newsletters and some AGM minutes in the League office library; Raymond Souster’s Starting Up: LCP 1966-1972 in the 1991 Who’s Who in the League of Canadian Poets; Cathy Ford’s Out of Con/Tex: Creating a Living Archive of Feminism in Stats, Memos & Memory (Living Archives, 1992; and brief but illuminating conversations with Cathy Ford, Maria Jacobs, and Robert Priest, Any omissions or inaccuracies are my own. —Betsy Struthers President, 1995-1996