Interview
2023 Book Awards: Meet the Winners
We asked the winners of our 2023 Book Awards some questions to get better acquainted with them and their winning collections! What does JOY mean to you? The theme of National Poetry Month 2023 was JOY. Joy is realizing you are more than what’s happened to you. That you are also potentiality, possibility, futurity. A…
Read More2022 Anne Szumigalski Lecture – Cyclical by Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer
The 2022 Anne Szumigalski Lecture presents: “Cyclical,” a ruminating lecture on aging and writing presented by Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer Louise Bernice Halfe – Sky Dancer was raised on Saddle Lake Reserve and attended Blue Quills Residential School. Louise is married, has two adult children and three grandsons. She graduated with a Bachelor of…
Read MoreSageing, Wider and Deeper: Penn Kemp in Conversation with Jane Munro
by Penn Kemp. The Words Festival has been one of London ON’s liveliest cultural events, presented annually since 2014. But this year, “WordsFest.ca 2020 was presented online in the belief communities need the transformative power of the literary and creative arts now more than ever.” Through Zoom, the event reached an online audience with an…
Read More2020 Poetry Awards: Interview with Charlie C Petch
Charlie C Petch is the winner of the 2020 Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award from the League of Canadian Poets. Find out more about Charlie’s poetry and process below. LCP: What does poetry mean to you? CP: For me, poetry is authenticity, a vehicle for change, for growth, play, escape, and nurturing community. LCP:…
Read More2020 Poetry Awards: Interview with Chantal Gibson
Chantal Gibson is the author of How She Read (Caitlin Press), and winner of the 2020 Pat Lowther Memorial Award from the League of Canadian Poets. Find out more about Chantal’s poetry and process below. LCP: Tell the story of how your collection came to be. CG: I would say How She Read started…
Read MoreTo me, poetry is love: An interview with 2019 Golden Beret winner, Andrea Thompson
Andrea Thompson is, among so many things, the winner of the League’s 2019 Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for excellence and innovation in spoken word poetry. The Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award is an annual literary prize crafted specifically to highlight the unique strengths and values of spoken word poetry. We chatted with Andrea about her…
Read MoreTHE SHORTLIST IN CONVERSATION: Adam Dickinson & Alice Major
The Shortlist in Conversation is a series in which poets shortlisted for the League’s 2019 Book Awards engage with each other’s works and talk poetry. In this installment, Adam Dickinson, author of Anatomic (Coach House Books) and Alice Major, author of Welcome to the Anthropocene (University of Alberta Press) – both collections shortlisted for the 2019 Raymond Souster…
Read MoreThe Shortlist in Conversation: Klara du Plessis & Laura Ritland
The Shortlist in Conversation is a series in which poets shortlisted for the League’s 2019 Book Awards engage with each other’s works and talk poetry. In this installment, Klara du Plessis, author of Ekke (Palimpsest Press) – shortlisted for the 2019 Gerald Lampert Memorial Award & the 2019 Pat Lowther Memorial Award – and Laura…
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