Canada's most generous poetry award, founded by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin.
Title: Canadian Authors Association Awards for Adult Literature submission deadline
Location: Canada
Description: The Canadian Authors Association (CAA) is a national organization with a local presence dedicated to promoting a flourishing community of writers across Canada and to encourage works of literary and artistic merit.
Learn more here.
Date: January 15, 2013
Title: Nature and Poetry: A Conversation with E. O. Wilson and Robert Hass
Location: New York, New York, US
Description: Theodore Roosevelt’s passion for the natural world extended to a love of nature writing and photography. U.S. Poet Laureate Robert Hass and noted biologist E. O. Wilson will come together at the American Museum of Natural History for a rich discussion of nature in poetry and poetry in nature, exploring the intersection of art and science and the surprising ways each inspires the other.
Learn more here.
Date: December 6, 2012
Title: Michael Symmons Roberts reads at Durham University
Location: Durham, United Kingdom
Description: Michael Symmons Roberts will be reading from his poetry, and (with Professor David Fuller) discussing issues related to religion and beauty, the body in sacred and secular aspects, and, on the basis of his particular interest in genomics, the relations of poetry and science.
Learn more here.
Date: November 28, 2012
Title: Jeramy Dodds reads at the University of Windsor
Location: Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Description: Trillium Book Award winning and Griffin Poetry Prize shortlisted poet Jeramy Dodds will read his poetry at 2:00 pm on Tuesday, November 27th in the Oak Room of Vanier Hall at the University of Windsor.
Learn more here.
Date: November 27, 2012
Title: Anne Carson receives honorary degree from the University of Toronto
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Description: This year, the University of Toronto’s fall Convocation includes eight ceremonies, for undergraduate and graduate students from all three campuses, including the first-ever graduating class of the Faculty of Law’s Global Professional LLM program. It also includes the conferral of honorary degrees, to Vandana Shiva on Nov. 12 and to Anne Carson on Nov. 16.
Learn more here.
Date: November 16, 2012
Title: The League of Canadian Poets 2013 Honorary Membership nominations deadline
Description: The League of Canadian Poets is seeking nominations for the 2013 Honourary Membership Award. Distinguished individuals, whether Canadian or non-Canadian, and whether residents or non-residents of Canada, are eligible for Honorary Membership. Honourary Membership is conferred as a mark of distinction and appreciation for special achievements and contributions to the art of poetry (non-members only and not necessarily a poet). Award recipients will be honoured at the annual LCP Poetry Festival and Conference in Toronto, June 2013. Nominations require a nominating letter describing the nominee’s contributions to the art of poetry, the candidate’s name, full contact information, and applicable biographical information. Please send nomination letter via email to readings@poets.ca.
Learn more here.
Date: January 1, 2013
Title: Calgary Distinguished Writers Program writer-in-residence application deadline
Location: Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Description: The Calgary Distinguished Writers Program encourages submissions from promising Canadian writers for the position of Canadian Writer-in-Residence, a ten-month residency at the University of Calgary’s Faculty of Arts from August 15, 2014 to June 15, 2015. This is a unique opportunity for early to mid-career Canadian writers to devote their time to writing and to advancing their writing careers. Applications for the position are encouraged from writers from diverse genres—including literary fiction or non-fiction, poetry, scriptwriting, and playwriting. Candidates will have one to four published and/or performed works to their credit, and are expected to propose a project or projects that they will undertake during their term as Canadian Writer-in-Residence. They will preferably, but not necessarily, hold a university degree.
Learn more here.
Date: January 31, 2013
Title: 2013 Premier’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts nomination deadline
Location: Ontario, Canada
Description: This annual awards program recognizes the outstanding achievements of Ontario’s artists, creative professionals and cultural organizations.
It is open to all art practices and cultural industries including community arts, crafts, dance, music, opera, theatre, visual and media arts, writing, book and magazine publishing, digital media, film, television and sound recording.
Learn more here.
Date: December 3, 2012
copyright ©2009 by Louise Gluck
It’s very dark today; through the rain,
the mountain isn’t visible. The only sound
is rain, driving life underground.
And with the rain, cold comes.
There will be no moon tonight, no stars.
The wind rose at night;
all morning it lashed against the wheat –
at noon it ended. But the storm went on,
soaking the dry fields, then flooding them –
The earth has vanished.
There’s nothing to see, only the rain
gleaming against the dark windows.
This is the resting place, where nothing moves –
Now we return to what we were,
animals living in darkness
without language or vision –
Nothing proves I’m alive.
There is only the rain, the rain is endless.
Notes on the Poem
The title of Louise Glück's poem "Solitude" suggests something inviting and desirable. We can all use a little solitude and peace from time to time. Does the poem then take us into what the title leads us to expect? The opening lines suggest something harsher than the warm welcome of restful solitude. There is more a sense of almost claustrophobic isolation: "It's very dark today; through the rain, the mountain isn't visible. The only sound is rain, driving life underground." The largely monosyllabic simplicity of Glück's language is blunt and almost weary, as if the narrator cannot muster too many longer words to describe her situation. The repetition of "dark" and "no" and "nothing" and especially "rain" becomes increasingly desperate in its monotony. As each successive stanza diminishes in length, it's as if the narrator is running out of ideas, patience, breath ... This solitude, if you can call it that, is suffused with despair and depression. Does anything in this perhaps ironically titled poem tell you otherwise?
Title: Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Canadian Youth submission deadline
Location: Canada
Description: The League of Canadian Poets, a national not-for-profit poetry organization founded in 1966, invites Canadian youth to participate in its Jessamy Stursberg Poetry Contest for Canadian Youth. There are two age categories, junior (grades 7-9) and senior (grades 10-12).
First place poems in each category will receive a cash prize:
Winners: $350
Second Place: $300
Third Place: $250
Learn more here.
Date: January 15, 2013