At the League, we work hard to support poets by administering programs and funds for governments and private donors and encouraging an appreciative readership and audience for poetry through educational partnerships and presentations to diverse groups. As the recognized voice of Canadian poets, we represent their concerns to governments, publishers, and the public while maintaining connections with similar organizations working…

1. I want to start here. “no language is neutral seared into the spine’s unraveling. here is history too.” Dionne Brand, No Language is Neutral 2. I can’t write an essay on the political implications of Canadian nature poetry. I don’t believe in Canada, nature, or poetry. These categories are persuasive logics, but they do…

de diffusion, de médiation et de dissémination de la poésie La poésie peut être faite partout, avoir lieu n’importe où. Voilà le principe fondateur de La poésie partout, un organisme à but non lucratif mis sur pied à Montréal en janvier 2017, dans le but d’inventer, produire, relier et diffuser des activités poétiques variées. La…

Overwhelmed by all the amazing National Poetry Month content coming out every day? Need a refresher? We’ll be rounding up our blog content, along with the awesome stuff our friends at Open Book, All Lit Up, 49th Shelf, and CBC Books are releasing – plus other NPM news that catches our eye each week; all month long. – From the League’s own…

Column by Vanessa Shields I know there are many of us who are writers and parents. This is a wild duality to live. My intention with this column is to write about the challenges of being a parent and a writer. I aim to share stories that reflect both the difficult and the extraordinary experiences of…

1. above/ground press, Ottawa ON: edited/published by rob mclennan It does feel strange to talk about my own press here, and, thanks to the alphabet, this does appear first, but there you go. Having produced nearly nine hundred items since July 9, 1993, above/ground press focuses on single-author chapbooks in runs in the 250-300 range,…

Recently, someone tried to tear me down on social media because of the work I am trying to do around inclusion and self-care for underrepresented writers. As a Black, female writer, on social media, self-care is important. That very same day almost as if a timely gift dropped down from depths of Twitter, I saw…

Canada’s relationship with nature poetry has, historically, been an uncomfortable one. Early settler poets took their settler-colonial romanticism to the extreme, writing of this land as if it were wild and unknown, rather than familiar and home to long-standing indigenous communities. Though the damage done by these early poets cannot be undone, nature poetry in…