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Contact Information League of Canadian Poets 920 Yonge Street, Suite 608 Toronto, ON M4W 3C7 416-504-1657 416-504-0095 (fax) E-mail: readings@poets.ca Website: www.poets.ca |
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The League of Canadian Poets, a non-profit arts service organization, is the national association of professional publishing and spoken word poets in Canada. Its purpose is to enhance the status of poets and nurture a professional poetic community to facilitate the teaching of Canadian poetry at all levels of education and to develop an audience for poetry by encouraging publication, performance and recognition of Canadian poetry nationally and internationally. The League’s mandate is to actively promote the works of Canadian poets to the general public and the education system and to encourage talented poets in their creative endeavours.
Mission and Mandate
The League’s mandate is to actively promote the works of Canadian poets to the general public and the education system and to encourage talented poets in their creative endeavours; the League aspires to:
- develop the art of poetry
- enhance the status of poets and nurture a professional poetic community
- facilitate the teaching of Canadian poetry at all levels of education
- enlarge the audience for poetry by encouraging publication, performance and recognition of Canadian poetry nationally and internationally
- uphold freedom of expression — in doing so, the League declares its support for freedom of expression and for all human rights and its abhorrence of racial, economic, sexual, religious, and other prejudicial forms of discrimination
Major Programs
Over the past ten years, the League of Canadian Poets has:
- Launched National Poetry Month in Canada
- Established a Poetry Spoken Here network of publishers, bookstores, libraries, reading venues and the media
- Launched the most comprehensive websites for poetry in Canada
- Launched youngpoets.ca, an award-winning website for youth, which includes message boards for students and teachers
- Established a poetry webstore, to sell Canadian poetry books nationally and internationally
- Published the 9th (and second online) edition of Poetry Markets for Canadians
- Worked with the Senate committee to establish the position of Poet Laureate of Canada
- Operates the Poetic Licence Contest for Canadian Youth with a goal to discover new poetic talent and promote poetry in schools
- Established and obtained permanent funding for the annual Anne Szumigalski lecture series, in which a recognized Canadian poet is able to reflect on issues important to contemporary poetry and poets
The League also continues to carry on its traditional services to promote poetry, such as:
- Presenting the annual Pat Lowther and Gerald Lampert Memorial Awards to recognize outstanding new books of poetry
- Coordinating 4 readings programs across the country, with a total of 300 poets participate in the readings programs each year and the League administers and funds 380 events in total per year
- Maintaining a library of more than 3,000 books of Canadian poetry
- Representing Canadian poetry and Canadian poetry publishers at book fairs and exhibits, both nationally and internationally
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