League of Canadian Poets Annual Report 2013‐2014 

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League of Canadian Poets Annual Report 2013‐2014 

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  NATIONAL COUNCIL Executive Committee President: Dymphny Dronyk Vice-President-Nominating Committee Chair: Ayesha Chatterjee Treasurer: Ray Mitchell Past President: Mary Ellen Csamer Secretary: Jenna Butler Regional Representatives Atlantic: John J. Guiney Yallop Quebec-Nunavut: Ian Ferrier Ontario: Anna Yin Toronto: Heather Cadsby Manitoba: Victor Enns & Kelly-Anne Riess Saskatchewan: Bruce Rice Alberta-NWT: Micheline Maylor British Columbia-Yukon: Clea Roberts Associate Members Rep: Angela Kublik Standing Committees Membership Appeals: Dymphny Dronyk (Chair), Ayesha Chatterjee, Mary Ellen Csamer Membership Committee: Brian Campbell (Chair) Print: Anne Burke, Louise Carson Spoken Word: Ian Ferrier Nominating Committee: Ayesha Chatterjee (Chair), John J. Guiney Yallop Feminist Caucus: Anne Burke (Chair) Appointed to Outside Organizations Book and Periodical Council: Joanna Poblocka Public Lending Right: Beatriz Hausner Access Copyright: Kelly-Anne Riess Coalition for Cultural Diversity: Fortner Anderson

OFFICE STAFF Executive Director: Joanna Poblocka Assistant Director: Ingel Madrus Administrative & Communications Coordinator: Barbara Erochina

Cover Page Photo Credit: L. Geary

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President’s Report Dymphny Dronyk It has been another year of staying the course, remaining extremely mindful of our fiscal and human resource constraints, and as much as possible, working hard to keep our organization relevant and vital. Certain themes recur on National Council from one year to the next. We have the big dreamers who push us to think bigger, do more, take risks. And then there are the members who have been bruised and chafed by the inherent challenges of being an arts organization that hold the reins sternly and advise caution, patience, and perseverance. These words become our refrain. I want to express my gratitude to the hardworking and extremely professional and visionary members of National Council who served over the past year. There’s an old saying: if you want to get something done, ask a busy person. This certainly holds true for us. Each member has served the League with diligence and passion, while also contributing hugely to their own communities and their demanding jobs. To those of you ending your terms: Ian, Jenna, Micheline, Angela, Clea, Heather, Victor, Bruce--thank you – and we hope to continue to hear your voices. To those of you staying on: Ayesha, John, Anna, Ray, Kelly Anne, Mary Ellen): thank you – we rely on your wisdom and appreciate your commitment! We have miles to go before we sleep. This year we initiated the practice of a Regional Roundtable on Council, where each Regional Rep shares updates, events, and best practices, from their area, with the goal of learning from each other. We are always looking for solid practices that can be shared. And we are also continually exploring innovative ways for the League to have a tangible presence in our literary communities. And, as always, special thanks and kudos to Joanna, Ingel, and Barbara, our excellent staff. They have kept our organization running smoothly, doing the work of six people, with a staff of three. They have maintained and nurtured our relationships with our funders, and with many important arts organizations. Over the past year we have worked on several ongoing commitments as well as on new and exciting initiatives. We are very proud of our continued efforts towards collaboration – this year’s Poetry Conference, in association with MagNet, being a good example. We believe we have much to learn from our sister organizations such as The Writers Union of Canada (TWUC) and the provincial literary guilds and associations. We are thrilled to see that the reciprocal membership discounts campaign with TWUC has been so well received. We make every effort to support organizations such as Access Copyright. Together we are stronger and wiser. We thank Bruce Rice, who is the champion of the Mayors’ Poetry City Challenge, which was a key component of National Poetry Month. Bruce spearheaded the outreach to mayors all over our amazing country – to share poetry in official municipal events. I attended the event in Calgary, where Mayor Nenshi introduced The Calgary Project – A City Map in Verse and Visual anthology to City Council, and invited the outgoing and incoming Poets Laureate to share a poem. The event also included the youngest contributor to the anthology reading her poem and presenting her painting. I am confident that the Mayors’ Poetry City Challenge will continue to grow. We believe that our outreach efforts are beneficial as our Membership Committees have been extremely busy, and our membership numbers have increased. We are also encouraged to see that lapsed members are returning, with enthusiasm. Our awards process this year was intensely busy, and we are so thankful to all the jurors who made time to carefully read all of those gorgeous books. One would have to conclude that poetry is alive and very well in Canada! In the coming year we are going to renew our efforts to secure individual sponsorships for each award so that we may increase the prize, as well as promote both the short-list and the winners in more diverse ways. We also continue to improve our jury process, thanks to the thoughtful feedback from our jurors. We are excited to present the inaugural Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for Spoken Word to bill bissett, and very grateful to Sheri-D for tirelessly championing spoken word, and for partnering with the League on this award, which has been given out in the past at her excellent Calgary Spoken Word Festival. The PK Page Trust Fund continues to be skillfully managed with the support of Dennis Reid. Our plan is to be able to offer a select series of mentorships through the proceeds of the fund. We ask that our members consider a small donation to the fund, as befits their budget. Our goal is to continue to grow this fund, through fundraising initiatives such as Dead Poets’ Society events, donations, and bequests.

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Our efforts to compile and print a collection of the first ten Anne Szumigalski lectures are going well. Glen Sorestad has written a foreword for the collection, and all outreach and editing is now complete, and the committee is seeking interest from publishers. Many thanks to Mary Ellen Csamer, Jenna Butler, and Glen Sorestad for your unflagging energy. Finally, we are very excited about two projects that we are working on for 2015. The Great Canadian PoeTrain Tour Committee, co-chaired by David Brydges and John J. Guiney Yallop, has been created to support and implement a tour of poets traveling from Halifax to Vancouver during National Poetry Month. Stay tuned for more news, and for ways to get involved as this train pulls out of the station and begins to gather steam. And we are also very pleased to be working together with TWUC and with the Manitoba Poetry Festival and Envoi Literary Foundation to produce PORTAH!GE, a poetry festival of epic proportions in Winnipeg from May 28

June 7, 2015. While all plans have not yet been finalized, we urge our members to pencil the dates in your alendars now, and join us in Winnipeg for a week of celebrations that will be like no other.

–c Executive Director’s Report Joanna Poblocka Dear Members, We have been following the Six Strategic Directions that we created together over a year ago. Steadily and thoughtfully, we are achieving our goals. We are able to do so with the collaborative effort from our staff, national council, volunteers, funders, members and supporters of the League of Canadian Poets. Everyone has been working extremely hard so that the organization can continue to develop and flourish, and so that we can all feel inspired in order continue promoting our members, their work and excellence in Canadian poetry. Artistic Programming The League of Canadian Poets has carried out all of its major programming as planned, which includes: Readings Programs (Canada Poetry Tours; Poets in the Schools; Readings in Public Places; and National Poetry Month); National Poetry Month - Marketing and Promotion of Canadian Poetry; the Annual Poetry Festival and Conference, in June, in Toronto, and the Jessamy Stursberg Youth Poetry Contest; as well as the administration of our poetry awards. Poetry in Transit 2013 The League of Canadian Poets partnered with Pattison Media to create the Poetry in Transit Project, whereby the LCP administered and selected poetry and Pattison Media Outdoor produced and distributed 7,000 poem cards on city buses across Canada in the following places: Halifax, Moncton, Saint John, Durham, Oakville, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge, Medicine Hat, Ottawa and Toronto. Through the Poetry in Transit project, the League of Canadian Poets and Pattison Media was be able to reach over 66,468,000 transit users. The League of Canadian Poets received many emails, phone calls and Twitter posts from the public expressing their support for Poetry in Transit. National Poetry Month 2013 The year 2013 marked the 15th anniversary of National Poetry Month across Canada. Toronto-based designer, Jeremy McCormick, designed the National Poetry Month poster. To ensure that word of National Poetry Month is heard coast to coast, the LCP distributed over 4000 posters to libraries, schools, universities, bookstores, festivals, literary organizations and LCP sponsored readings and performances across the country, and many more. The National Poetry Month blog returned this past year. For the first time, the LCP held two simultaneous calls for poems, both for members and for emerging poets. Each day during National Poetry Month, the blog featured one poem from an established poet and one from an emerging poet. The daily posts were shared through the LCP’s website, blog, Twitter, Facebook and other social media. This initiative garnered many new applications for membership to the LCP.

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Website and Social Media In the two years the LCP has been working on updating its website, which included a new logo and pages that can be updated by each member individually. The website was a daunting task as it contains hundreds of pages of content, including 600 members pages, plus all of our information on the readings programs, awards, donations, and the young poets component. We have also just recently launched the Poets Laureate Map of Canada, at: http://poets.ca/poet-laureate-map/. We have streamlined our web presence by combining the youngpoets.ca website into the poets.ca site, integrated the Young Poet Twitter account with the Canadian Poets account, and did the same with our new Facebook page. As a membership services organizations we felt it was more appropriate to offer a page where the LCP has more control in promoting our members’ event and relevant poetry news. The website is a project that is always being updated, depending on our needs and services, and we will be continuing to update it as move into this coming year. 2014 National Literary Arts Forum in Montreal In February 2014 the Canada Council for the Arts put together a National Literary Arts Forum in Montreal, which Ian Ferrier, our Quebec Representative and I attended. It was a great opportunity to meet others in the Writing and Publishing sector across the country, and the event allowed us to share information, as well as look at the current issues that we are facing as a community. The event was organized around four themes: creation, publication/production, dissemination and sustainability. For videos, highlights and the full report from the event, please check: http://canadacouncil.ca/writing-and-publishing/national-forum-on-the-literary-arts Awards At the LCP Annual Poetry Festival and Conference in Toronto in June of 2013, the newly established Raymond Souster Award was given out for the first time to poet A.F. Moritz. The award is given for a book of poetry by a League of Canadian Poets member (all levels, dues paid) published in the preceding year. The award honours Raymond Souster, an early founder of the League of Canadian Poets. The award carries a $1,000 prize. Operating and Financial At the end of the fiscal year 2012/2013, the LCP was showing a surplus of $28,160. This was achieved through a collective effort of the staff, National Council, and membership, by saving operating costs, increasing general donations and membership fees, and adding a small host/venue administrative fee for the Canada Poetry Tours program. These efforts were specifically dedicated to our deficit reduction plans. The combination of these efforts led to significant financial improvement, while not cutting any of it the LCP’s artistic programming. The LCP received a $20,000 grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation to research, develop and implement and new database. This project is currently underway, and the database should be installed and up and running by August 31st, 2014. As the League of Canadian Poets moves forward into our 2014-2015 fiscal year our goals continue to be:

• Contingency Fund Planning; • Follow our Strategic Planning 2011-2015 Guide; • Continue to deliver 400+ reading events per year; • Continue to expand National Poetry Month each April, as our resources allow; • Continue to source long-term fundraising opportunities; • Continue to inspire and educate young people to become readers and writers of poetry through Young

Poets; • Ensure LCP by-laws are updated and aligned with the new Ontario Non-for Profit Act;

I’d like to thank all of supporters and funders: The Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage through the Canada Book Fund Program, The Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, and The Toronto Arts Council. Thank you to our dedicated National Council, and staff Ingel Madrus, Lesley Fletcher, Barbara Erochina, webmasters Rob Thiessen and Glen Hodges, and all of our members, volunteers, donors and friends from other organizations. Together we make all of this happen, so that we can continue to support poets and their work.

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Assistant Director’s Report 2013-2014 Ingel Madrus Awards We are thrilled to present the Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for the first time this coming fiscal year and would like to thank the jurors, who carefully selected the winner among the 16 impressive nominations that were submitted. 2014 Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award Jury: Sheri-D Wilson, Tanya Evanson and Ian Ferrier. All the book awards were well received again this year. There were 65 new books of poetry by League members submitted for the Raymond Souster Award, 88 books by Canadian woman for the Pat Lowther Memorial Award and 46 first books of poetry submitted to the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. We would like to thank all the juries for enthusiastically embracing the immense task of reading and selecting the winners and shortlists from an extraordinary selection of new books by Canadian poets.   Raymond Souster Award Jury: Laurence Hutchman, Sheila Martindale and Bruce Hunter Pat Lowther Memorial Award Jury: Betsy Struthers, Elizabeth Greene and Cornelia Hoogland Gerald Lampert Memoiral Award Jury: Keith Garebian, Pearl Pirie and Carl Leggo  Membership The membership committee worked diligently again this year, reviewing many full and associate membership applications. All told, the League welcomed 21 new full members, 15 new associate members, one member who successfully upgraded from associate to full member status, as well as, 1 new student member and 15 returning members (after at least one year of lapsed membership). I would like to thank Brian Campbell, membership committee chair, and Louise Carson, Anne Burke, and Ian Ferrier for their dedication and thoughtful evaluation of all new membership applications. Thank you! Reading Programs Canada Poetry Tours, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, funded 101 half/joint readings and 90 full/solo readings for a total of 191 readings across Canada. The League paid $35,125.00 in reading fees and $20,696.74 in travel expenses, for a total of $55,821.74, paid directly to member poets. 112 individual poets participated in this year’s program. The Readings in Public Places program, funded by the Toronto Arts Council, distributes funding for readings amongst the electoral wards of Toronto. Currently 22% of League members live in the Toronto area (M postal codes). League members living outside of Toronto also took the opportunity to participate in the program while visiting or touring. There were a total of 35 readings booked this fiscal year and $3,500 paid directly to the poets. 24 poets were participated in the program. Poets in the Schools, funded by the Ontario Arts Council, distributes funds to poets for classrooms visits across the province of Ontario. There were 41 half days and 44 full days booked this fiscal year. $32,000 was paid directly to poets, which included fees for Young Poets Week (LCP pays full fee) and Northern schools (LCP pays full fee + travel). 36 members participated in the Poets in the Schools program this fiscal year. National Poetry Month readings, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, provided funding for readings during the month of April. The year 2013 marked the 15th anniversary of National Poetry Month in Canada. Participants were asked to celebrate National Poetry Month in their communities. All the events celebrated local authors and community access to poetry. Hosts and poets collaborated with many libraries, writers groups, new and established reading series’, writers organizations, and festivals across the country. $6,750.00 was paid out, which covered 54 readings, featuring 47 individual participating poets across Canada.

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Toronto Report Heather Cadsby I assumed this position upon the unexpected illness of Kate Marshall Flaherty. In July 2013 Toronto City Council considered and adopted the proposal of the Residents Association in Ward 27 to rename Dupont Parkette (Avenue Road/Dupont Street) to Jay Macpherson Green, in honour of the late poet. In October 2013 I attended a meeting held at Windermere United Church to discuss the naming of steps in Willard Park for the late Toronto poet Raymond Souster. Toronto City Councillor Sarah Doucette announced that funding from the city had been secured for this. Toronto Poet Laureate, George Elliott Clarke, who had proposed this, was also present. The dedication ceremony is scheduled for summer 2014. George Elliott Clarke has also proposed that a statue to commemorate Raymond Souster be placed in Toronto’s Commerce Court. He has approached CIBC for support for this project. He also requests the support of the League of Canadian Poets for this endeavour. Further recognition for Raymond Souster was given in January 2014 when the anthology Under the Mulberry Tree: Poems for and about Raymond Souster (edited by James Deahl) was launched at the Tequila Bookworm. I suggested that council members be given business cards to use as promotion tools for publicity for the League. These cards are now available. On one side there are office/league details and on the other side there are lines for council members to write their own position and contact information. On April 1st I assumed MC duties at the National Poetry Month kickoff. The event was held at Ben McNally Books and included announcements of shortlists for the Lowther, Lampert and Souster Awards. Also included was the announcement of the newly established Sheri-D Wilson Golden Beret Award for spoken word poetry. The first recipient of this award is bill bissett. To honour the mandate of presenting poetry in new venues during National Poetry Month, I arranged readings at Artworld Fine Art Gallery (Toronto) and Double Dog Dare Yoga Studio (St. Marys). Ontario Report Anna Yin

1. Since 2005, I have started promoting poetry and hosting poetry events. Last year I was glad to serve as the Ontario Representative and with great respect I have attended many events by our friends or members to support them and to promote poetry, such as (Al) PurdyFest, 100,000 Poets for Changes, TOPS’ readings, The Chinese Professionals Association of Canada’s book launch, the 2014 Chinese New Year Celebration on the Hill, 905 Road Show, the “Charity Show for Baby Maja”, the Inkwell Conference etc. By doing this I hoped to reach out and bring new groups into poetry circles.

2. I have resumed translating Canadian poets’ works into Chinese and have worked on poems of more than 10 members in our region. Some were published in China, Singapore and USA; others have been submitted and are waiting for a response.

3. To promote Poets in Schools and Youth Poetry contests, I wrote to several school boards in Nov 2013. I was glad that some schools posted the information on their website. I have met with the Cultural Division Department of Mississauga and Mississauga Arts Council several times and promoted Mayor’s Poetry City Challenge and the League’s programs.

4. To help the publicizing of the League and the Poetry In Transit project, I contacted Chinese media and I was glad that MingBao newspaper interviewed me and reported on the Poetry In Transit on its front page on Jan 2nd, 2014.

5. In Nov. 2013, the Talent Vision TV (a Chinese TV station across Canada) invited me for its program: Leisure Talk and asked me to read my poems for Christmas Night. I was glad to use this opportunity to introduce projects and events of the League.

6. On Jan 23, 2014, I celebrated Robert Burns’ night with Ayesha Chatterjee, George Elliott Clarke and Peter Norman at the Beaches Public Library. The library reported the event’s success through its internal newsletter.

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7. This national poetry month, there were many events across Ontario by our members, from Sarnia and Windsor to Ottawa and Barrie. There were poetry readings, book launches, poetry contests, poets in schools programs etc., all celebrating the 16th National Poetry month. I organized two events, one in Markham with members Robert Colman and Mel Sarnese on April 5 which was aired on Talent Vision TV on April 18, the other in Mississauga with MARTY Awards nominees on April 27, which will be in SNAP newspaper in June.

For Northern Ontario, David C. Brydges shared his report, please see the following: Spring Pulse Poetry Festival in its 7 th season continues to be the largest poetry/arts annual festival in Northern Ontario. With 18 events spread over a week in senior homes, schools, the hospital, libraries, and historic venues, the community experiences poetry in a varied places. The Dr. William Henry Drummond Poetry Contest the oldest non-governmental national contest in Canada celebrated a record 223 entries. League winners are Honourable Mention Ronnie R. Brown for Breaking Point, and Elana Wolff for Walking Song. Judge’s Choice went to Ronnie R. Brown for Between Rocky and a Hard Place, Marianne Jones for April Thaw, and Marsha Barber for Lakeshore Road at Sunrise.

---From David C. Brydges /artistic director /spring pulse poetry festival

In summary, I am happy that poetry is going well in our region and there are new members and returning members joining the League. I will be happy to continue to work with others to further the interests of the League in the community, and make every effort to contact members well in advance of events and concerns. I wish all members great success in their endeavors in the future.

Alberta Representative Report Micheline Maylor This has been a fairly quiet year in terms of direct contact with poets. None responded to my introductory email or monthly bulletins about events. Not even local and new members, such as Kirk Ramdath. My attendance was spotty in the phone meetings after March, as my business partner died and I had more to do than I could handle. I encouraged a number of people to join the League and believe Sharanpal Ruprai will apply as soon as she is eligible. I represented the league at a number of events in the Spring including the Freefall Launch, Sage Hill Writers reading in Regina, and the Alberta Writers’ Guild shortlist reading for the W.O. Mitchell prize. Fundraising has not been a strong suit, and although Dymphny and I spoke of co-hosting an event, it hasn’t happened yet. I will be stepping down as Alberta rep, as I am better suited to judging for the Leaugue contests. I will continue to support and engage the new rep into 2015. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity. I will likely return to the board at a time when my life is not quite so full. Saskatchewan Report Bruce Rice Judith Krause, Saskatchewan Poet Laureate. Judith Krause has been appointed for a two-year term as Saskatchewan’s Poet Laureate for 2014-2015. Judith is a long-time League member. The Poet Laureate position was previously held by Don Kerr. A reception hosted by the Lieutenant Governor was held at Government House in January. Her fifth collection, tentatively entitled Homage to Happiness, is slated for publication in the fall of 2014. League Members It has been another great year for League members at the Saskatchewan Book Awards, with Mary Lou Rowley’s Animus Mundi being nominated in three categories, including Saskatchewan Book of the Year. Mary-Lou and Paul Wilson’s The Invisible Library, shared nominations in the Poetry category. Perhaps the most significant trend was breakthrough of Aboriginal writing across almost all Award categories. Venues and Festivals Venues for poets and other writers continue to thrive. League members are active in the planning for our three largest events: Saskatoon blocks off the Morrison Library area for Word on the Street, featuring poets Robert Currie, dee Hobsbawn-Smith and Mitch Spray among others. Moose Jaw’s 2014 Festival of Words features C. R. Avery (spoken word), poets laureate Judith Krause for Saskatchewan and John B. Lee from Brantford and Norfolk County, and G.G. winner, Katherena Vermette. Regina’s Cathedral Village Arts Festival is the largest

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Arts Festival in the province with 25,000-30,000 in attendance over the week. The highlight this year was an evening of interdisciplinary performances featuring new works by Kathleen Wall, Lia Pas and Shayna Stock. Guest, Kate Braid, read with bassist Danny Jones. Performance-oriented venues like Saskatoon’s Tonight It’s Poetry and Regina’s Creative City Centre continue to thrive. Generally, there is a marked increase in readings and workshops by some of the best spoke word artists in he country at the venues mentioned above, galleries, and schools: Magpie Ulysses, C.R. Avery, Dwayne organ, Andrea Thompson, Lillian Allen, and many others.

tM Ânskohk is one of the few festivals showcasing the talent of Aboriginal authors from across Canada, educating the general population about the richness of Aboriginal literacy, and promoting further understanding of Aboriginal peoples. Gregory Schofield was a headliner at the Ânskohk –SWG “Writing and Environment” conference in Regina, and “Words for a Freezing Moon” in Saskatoon. This was the fourth year of the Writing North Conference in Saskatoon, with readings and workshops focusing on writing in the north, including poetry (led by Alex Porco). Commonwealth Poets United Saskatoon’s Louise Halfe/Skywalker was the Canadian poet selected for Scottish Poetry Library’s Commonwealth Poets United. This exchange is part of the cultural activities associated with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. The exchange matches Scottish poets with those in six commonwealth Countries including Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Jamaica, Nigeria and South Africa. Louise was matched with Ian Stephens from Stornoway, Isle of Lewis. Ian is a poet, playwright, storyteller, and also a sailor. He was accompanied by his wife, Christine Morrison, an artist who works in many forms including landscape-based works. Ian was featured at the Edmonton Poetry Festival. After Ian’s visit to Canada, Louise travelled to Scotland to do readings, workshops and other events. Mayor’s Poetry City Challenge Forty communities from St. John’s to Victoria took part in the 2014 Mayor’s Poetry City Challenge (see LCP webpage). This was the third year of this collaboration between the LCP and the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild. The number of communities has increased each year. The Challenge issued by Regina’s Mayor, Michael Fougere, is to have a poet read a poem at the opening of their Council meetings for World Poetry Day or National Poetry Month. Whitehorse was our official “kick-off” community this year. The other most northern community was Dawson City. Quebec City and Caraquet, NB, were the two francophone communities. The Mayor’s Challenge readings are often combined with other events, and seven communities held the readings in March to acknowledge World Poetry Day (March 21). Parliamentary Poet Laureate, Michel Pleau, sent letters recognizing the participating mayors, Councils, and communities. The support of the Saskatchewan Writers’ Guild has been an important part of the success of this program. Manitoba Report Kelly Riess Kelly-Anne Riess became the Manitoba Regional rep in March, 2014, taking over for Victor Enns who resigned from the National Council. In May, Victor hosted a successful Dead Poets dinner, a fundraiser for the League of Canadian Poets. The event raised $700 in donations for the League’s PK Page Fund. The League of Canadian Poets 2015 AGM will be held in Winnipeg in conjunction with the The Writers’ Union of Canada AGM. Watch for more information on this. During this same week, Winnipeg will be hosting the Portah!ge Poetry Festival from May 28 to June 7. The event will be a celebration of Canadian poetry featuring the contribution of First Nations, Métis, Francophone poets and spoken word artists from across the country, with a western Canadian emphasis. More information about the festival will be released this summer.

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Atlantic Report John J. Guiney Yallop I am honoured to have served as Atlantic Representative for the League of Canadian Poets in 2013-2014. This was my first year as Atlantic Representative. I am looking forward to serving the second year of this term. I prepared an introduction for members, which appeared in the Newsletter of LCP following the Annual General Meeting and Poetry Conference. I co-hosted the fourth International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry, which was held in Montreal. As a League Member, and the Atlantic Representative on National Council, I encouraged a League presence at the symposium. Interest was expressed from participants about the role of the League and possible membership. At least one new Atlantic member for the League came from among those who attended the symposium. Invitations for information from members was sent out early in 2014. After responses, news about the work of Dianne Hicks Morrow, John Wall Barger’s, M. Travis Lane, Anne Simpson, Alison Dyer, Kathy Mac was included in the March 2014 Newsletter. I planned an event, which I called Poets in the Parlour, for National Poetry Month. This was in collaboration with local businesses in Wolfville and other members of the Acadia University community, and was intended to be a combination retreat/social/readings event. While the event was cancelled because I did not receive enough registrations, considerable interest was expressed; there just seemed to be so much going on for Atlantic members of the League that attending another event in April was not possible. The event will be rescheduled for the fall. I was appointed as Co-chair, with David Brydges, for the Great Canadian PoeTrain Tour. We are currently working on this exciting initiative which was the idea of David, who has already planned a PoeTrain event in Ontario. More information about this opportunity to travel across much of the country by train during National Poetry Month in 2015 will come soon. Plans for this Coming Year: Invite Atlantic members to read at Acadia University and/or in Wolfville Reschedule Poets in the Parlour for the fall Request another member update for one of the monthly newsletters Collaborate with David Brydges and others to get the Great Canadian PoeTrain Tour rolling Invite other ideas for poetry events in Atlantic Canada. Access Copyright Report Kelly Riess Challenges Facing Access Copyright With the passing of Bill C-11, a number of educational institutions have begun walking away from their Access Copyright licensing agreements, as the new bill has added “educational purposes” to “fair dealing.” Therefore many universities no longer feel that it is necessary to pay fees to Access Copyright for usage of copyrighted material. Access Copyright, however, argues that “educational purposes” under Bill C-11 is too broad, and that multiple copies of a work for classroom use may be argued to be unfair. Access Copyright predicts it will need to vigorously litigate the fairness of the taking of copyrighted works under the educational purposes exception under Bill C-11. As a result, Access Copyright is currently involved in a costly litigation with York University as its first legal battle against Bill C-11. In the meantime, Access Copyright is quickly losing up to 80 per cent of its revenue that was received from educational institutions that are no longer paying license fees to Access.

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As this loss of revenue continues, Access Copyright anticipates that its annual payments to creator and publisher affiliates will become much lower, unless its business model changes. Access Copyright is currently exploring new business models to generate new revenue for writers and publishers outside its former licensing model. The Next Chapter In 2013, Access Copyright hosted the Next Chapter Summit to talk about the future of Access Copyright with creators and publishers. At this summit, participants brainstormed new revenue models for Access Copyright, and the Access Copyright board has been using the results from the summit to build and develop new services and offerings specifically for the education sector where it used to earn so much of its revenue. The Board and senior staff spent the first half of 2013, following the summit, deepening its understanding of the changing publishing, education and business landscapes before developing a three-year strategic plan designed to extend Access Copyright’s mature offerings, while also readying the organization for emerging opportunities to enable content use, and payment, in digital platforms. Access Copyright’s New Strategic Plan In September 2013, the Board approved a three-year strategic plan (2014-2016) to guide Access Copyright as it transforms the organization. The plan defines key areas of work on business strategy, rebranding and educational fair dealing and is as follows:

1. Develop and implement services that provide seamless copyright clearance and content access in digital platforms Content and technology today are co-dependent. Access Copyright believes there are exciting opportunities for services where content is easily discovered, used, remixed and available in small pieces. Access Copyright hopes to play an important role by providing tools that will enable automatic copyright clearance and permission to use and access content as well as a simple way to pay for the use of that content.

2. Reframe the conversation about copyright, content and the role of Access Copyright Access Copyright seeks to emphasize the common ground between creators and publishers, and content users: the love of a good book, the desire to have great culture in our lives and the need for reliable, published content.

3. Clarify scope of fair dealing and other exceptions Canadian creators and publishers are extremely concerned about the broad interpretation of “Fair Dealing” now adopted by many educational institutions. Guidelines that promote a systematic reliance on unlicensed copying threaten the sustainability of Canadian content.

4. Be an organization that is innovative, nimble, entrepreneurial and responsive to the copyright management and content needs of creators, publishers and users. Access Copyright is committed to engaging its staff and affiliates in the transformation of the organization, building stronger relationships with content users, and developing and validating in quick succession potential offerings and partnering with others to bring to market services that integrate copyright clearance and content access with digital services.

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The new strategy seeks to ensure that Access Copyright maximizes the potential of its current business, extends itself into new opportunities that will help Access Copyright grow and set the stage to pursue emerging opportunities as they present themselves. At the 2014, Access Copyright AGM, it was reconfirmed that Access Copyright must do more to serve the interests of content users. In an era of rapid technological change and legal ambiguity, it must do more to earn the continued business of its customers. It must be more innovative, entrepreneurial and communicative. Its ability to continue serving creators and publishers depends on it. Access Copyright’s Governance Changes Access Copyright is now in the process of migrating towards a smaller, more efficient governance structure that will enable the member-driven recruitment of candidates with the skills and expertise best-suited to the challenges at hand. Over the next 12 months Access Copyright will be governed by a Transitional Board composed, like the previous board, of nine creator directors and nine publisher directors. But, by April, 2015, the size of the board will be reduced from 18 to 11 members to allow Access Copyright to have a more cost-effective board. Also created through the approval of new by-laws at the AGM, and subsequently elected, was a Nominating Committee tasked with identifying the strategic needs of the organization and recruiting a slate of four director candidates to stand for election at next year's Access Copyright AGM. If there are nominees from the floor of the AGM, the slate is dissolved and the membership votes for individual directors. Note the nominating committee is to be elected at the AGM each year and members will serve a three-year term. The nominating committee includes two creator representatives and two publisher representatives elected by the membership, two current directors chosen by the board and the Access Copyright Executive Director as a non‐voting member. Access Copyright Backgrounder What is copyright and fair dealing? In the simplest terms, "copyright" means "the right to copy." In general, only the copyright owner, often the creator of the work, is allowed to produce or reproduce the work or to permit anyone else to do so. But fair dealing blurs the line on this. Fair dealing is a statutory exception to copyright infringement. It is a defense with the burden of proof upon the defendant. In Canada, if you copy a copyrighted work for research, private study, criticism, review or news reporting it will likely be considered fair that you copied the work without the permission of the copyright owner. People wanting to use copyrighted works for education and government purposes were not protected by fair dealing, but copyright clearances were made easy for them because of Access Copyright. What is Access Copyright? Since 1988, Access Copyright has helped make sure writers, visual artists and publishers are paid for the reproduction of their work by educators, government officials and others who may wish to copy such work.

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Its objective has been simple: to protect the value of intellectual property by ensuring fair compensation when creator works are copied. Essentially, how Access Copyright works is that creators register their published works with the organization; and institutions, like universities, pay annual renewable license fees or one-time, pay-per-use licences to copy works. The licensing fees are then distributed to the creators and their publishers. With this system in place, university professors, for instance, can then photocopy excerpts of copyrighted works for course packs, knowing the writers of those works will be paid by Access Copyright for this usage of their works and students don’t have to go out and buy each individual book. In theory, it’s a win-win situation. In 2010, over 100 million pages from close to 120,000 unique titles were copied into paper course packs alone. This number does not include many more millions of copies made and distributed through other means, including digital. That year, and every year, writers get cheques in the mail from Access Copyright—royalties for our copied works. Students save money on books. And, up until last 2012, the universities paid the bill. But the passing of Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act, in November, 2012, has shaken up the system. What is Bill C-11, the Copyright Modernization Act? Bill C-11 extended the list of fair dealing exceptions to “educational purposes.” This means that:

• Anyone claiming an education purpose can arguably copy substantial parts of copyright-protected literary works without permission or payment.

• Educational institutions and ministries now argue they do not have to pay Access Copyright for collective

licenses to enable teachers and students to legally copy materials.

• Eighty per cent of its revenues come from ministries of education and educational institutions. The effect Bill C-11 has had on writers and publishers The unintended consequence of adding education to fair dealing has been damaging the educational market for published works. Since the passing of Bill C-11, more than 25 post-secondary administrations took the unfortunate step of walking away from the Access Copyright licences that worked so well for decades. In place of clear procedures for worry-free copying, students and faculty now face a jungle of prohibitions and guidelines that leaves them scratching their heads, unsure if the copying they need to do will expose them to legal liability for infringement, or if they should just forget about using that material altogether. Some university administrators have told faculty to clear the rights to content themselves on a case-by-case basis, or else restrict usage to digital content already under licence in their libraries. But it is likely content will continue to be copied, whether authorized or not. Some administrators have warned faculty that they will be the ones to face legal liability if caught using materials that have not been licensed or cleared. Even so, as institutions continue to walk away from Access Copyright, infringement on a mass scale seems inevitable. People will simply go on using what they need, but the creators and publishers will not get paid.

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To try to prevent this, after Bill C-11 was passed, the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada came out with guidelines for fair dealing that were adopted by many universities. The guidelines were derived from an interpretation of Bill C-11 from the Council of Ministers of Education, which was published in a report called “Copyright Matters,” which Access Copyright views as an overly broad and unfounded interpretation of fair dealing in an educational context. A lawsuit launched by Access Copyright against York University will serve as the first legal test of these new fair-dealing guidelines within the Copyright Matters document adopted by many universities and colleges. The outcome of the case will have wide-reaching implications for Canada’s educational institutions as well as Access Copyright. At the heart of the lawsuit is the meaning of fair dealing, which is not clearly defined by Bill C-11. The lawsuit was launched in April, 2013. Access Copyright alleges in the lawsuit that York made copies of “a substantial part” of several copyright-protected works for which the university didn’t obtain appropriate clearance or pay the necessary royalties. It argues that the fair-dealing guidelines from the Copyright Matters document that York relied on to make the copies are “arbitrary” and too broad. The stakes of the lawsuit are high. If York is wrong, it means that a number of other universities are also wrong. The stakes are equally high for Access Copyright. If the Copyright Matters fair dealing guidelines are allowed to stand, this could change the way the Access Copyright operates and impact the relevance of the organization and its whole existence. Access Copyright payments to creators will likely be reduced since the enactment of the Copyright Modernization Act. ACCESS COPYRIGHT MADE EASY—SIX THINGS ALL WRITERS SHOULD KNOW

1. Access Copyright distributes two types of royalties: Title specific and non-title specific. 2. Title-specific royalties are paid out using data collected from organizations that have Access Copyright licences. Title-specific royalties related to trade books are shared equally between authors and publishers even if your publisher contract says something different. In the case of textbooks and academic journals, 100 per cent can go to the publisher only if the creator has assigned copyright to the publisher and the publisher has notified Access Copyright. Otherwise Access Copyright will pay the writer 50 per cent. On title-specific works, freelance journalists who write for magazines and newspapers receive 100 per cent of all royalties. Staff writers of magazines and newspapers receive zero per cent. 3. Fifty per cent of all the non-title specific royalties are paid out annually through Payback to writers and visual artists. Additionally, since 2010, Payback has been topped up with a 15 per cent allocation from all available royalties before these other royalties are distributed. 4. If your work is out of print, let Access Copyright know, and 100 per cent of title-specific payments will then go to you. 5. Quebec authors whose works are mainly published outside of the province of Quebec can join Access Copyright. However, if most of your works are published by a Quebec publisher, you should join Copibec (www.copibec.qc.ca).

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6. If you are a writer who has works outside the 20-year window, you will only receive the base payment for Payback. However, you will be paid for works published outside the 20-year window, if the work is copied and reported by a licencee,

Note: Payback is calculated in two steps:

• Step one—40 per cent of the Payback pool is distributed on an equal basis to all eligible affiliates.

• Step two—60 per cent is distributed as a supplementary payment that will vary depending on what you published, how much you published and when you published. Remember the deadline to submit your Payback claim every year is May 31. Visit www.accesscopyright.ca for more information about Payback.

a©eCreator

a©eCreator is a cloud-based service developed by Access Copyright to help writers during and after the content creation process by providing an easy way to send, track, monitor, locate, and backup your work. It is a complimentary service and a benefit to being an Access Copyright affiliate. a©eCreator offers:

• Access to files anytime, anywhere using only a browser • Secure file backup on multiple servers • Auto generated record of where, how, and when files were sent • Unlimited data storage • Ability to share large files with others (e.g. publisher, literary agents)

For more information on a©eCreator, please contact us at acesupport@accesscopyright.ca Public Lending Right Beatriz Hausner With the three research programs, which began in 2011, now concluded and posted on the Canada Council’s web page, the Public Lending Right Commission is well poised to embark on a new phase, namely the strengthening of the program in the years ahead. There is a spirit of cooperation and great cohesion among the various members of the Commission, which will no doubt help us in the months ahead, as we embark on initiatives such as research into library holdings. Despite the pressures on the Canada Council over the last while, the budget for the PLR payments remains stable. That change is in the air at the Canada Council, and by extension on the PLR program, is evident by this week’s announcement that Simon Brault has been named Director. He will replace Robert Sirman, whose term ends in June. Writer and former publisher, Anna Porter, has joined the Commission as the Council Board representative. With my two-year term as Commission Vice Chair coming to an end, I will stand for election as Chair at the AGM of the PLR Commission this coming June. It is expected that I will be successful, and that I will exercise this new role for two years. It will be an honour to serve as your representative is this capacity. I foresee possible ways of furthering the cause of poets as the authors of books held in Canada’s public libraries, their recognition through meaningful remuneration In terms of news, you should know that the next international PLR conference will be held in 2015 in Amsterdam. As well, the PLR program is currently taking in registrations of ebooks and is looking forward to making the electronic works part of the regular program cycle in the near future. PLR is also aware of the need to push for electronic delivery of payments and services in light of rapidly accelerating postal charges and mailing costs. In conclusion, the Commission continues to oversee the program and is looking to further strengthen the profile of

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the program and to provide a venue for promotion of Canadian literary and scholarly works. In June overall payment statistics for last year will be made available to the members of the Commission and I will convey them to you in an update. All in all, I am optimistic that the PLR program will remain strong as it adapts to the many changes that are taking place in literary culture in Canada. Associate Members Report Angela Kublik It has been my pleasure to serve as the Associate Members’ Rep on the National Council for the past year. Associate Members continue to be active in the League, participating in many League programs across the country. Currently, there are 127 Associate Members who make up 20% of the League’s Membership. The large proportion of Associate Members is a result of the League’s extensive efforts to encourage developing poets, work that the League is to be commended on. Several Associate Members have expressed their interest and approval of the upcoming changes to the League’s membership structure, which will include current Associate Members as voting members, to bring the League into compliance with the new Ontario Not-for-profit Corporations Act. Indeed, the eagerness of the League’s Associate Members to become more involved became apparent when I sent out a call to replace myself on the National Council earlier this spring. I received numerous inquiries about the position, and, in the end, three people – Elizabeth Johnson, Julie Mahfood and Lesley Strutt – have let their names stand for election. I hope that the new membership structure will allow the League to channel some of this willingness to volunteer into other positions that Associate Members are currently not eligible to fill.A brief reminder to all Associate Members: you do not necessarily require a published book to become a Full Member – the membership committee will also consider applicants with a significant body of work that has been published and/or performed. Feminist Caucus Report Anne Burke Andrea Beverley is the FQRSC Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. She holds a Ph.D. in Études anglaises from the Université de Montréal where she wrote a thesis on trans-national feminism and Canadian women’s writing. She prepared a study, using twenty slides to offer a visual map of the poets whose voices have been documented in the Living Archives Series and highlighted the chapbook covers, some of which were published in elaborate glossy editions. In addition to providing a concise introduction to this rarely-discussed series, this presentation focused specifically on how the publications attempt to retain the affect of their own originary moments, as when they evoke the vibe or atmosphere of the yearly poetry panels. This paper thus takes up Pauline Butling’s call for Canadian literary conferences to be taken seriously as rich “oral research sites” by arguing that the editorial decisions to retain remnants of the oral events impact how we imagine feminist poets in community. For more, please go to: http://accute.ca/2013/08/18/call-for-papers-affecting-womens-writing-in-canada-quebec-today/ This year has been a especially positive one, with the pending publication of: Dialogues, Exchanges, and Conversations, by Jenna Butler on Glen Sorestad, Dennis Cooley, Robert Kroetsch, and Doug Barbour; Louise Carson on Jon Torell; Jennifer Footman on Doug Hill, Michael Zizis, and James Deahl; Candice James on Fred Cogswell; and Bernice Lever on Irving Layton, to be launched at the Toronto annual general meeting. Please plan to join us on Friday at 4 p.m. for the Business Meeting and Open Reading and again on Saturday at 4: 15 p.m. for the new Panel and Poems on our Elders (which was organized by panellist Magie Dominic). Stories about the forgotten elders, our vulnerable elders – which prompted the panel topic, tentatively subtitled poetry and cautionary tales. We are an aging society, with abandonment and elder abuse being problems for both genders.

Congratulations to all the poets and their publishers for their Pat Lowther Memorial Award entries. We honour our League's Past Chair when we do this in her memory. Although the official description reads "whose career was cut short by her untimely death in 1975", what actually happened was her brutal murder. Spousal and partner abuse continues to be a major social problem, with chilling statistics, and the innocent children, whose suffering is seemingly unending.

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Thank you to the judges, who must always make difficult choices. The 2014 Jury was composed of Elizabeth Greene, Cornelia Hoogland, and Betsy Struthers.

The Pat Lowther Memorial Award Shortlist is as follows:

The Hottest Summer in Recorded History by Elizabeth Bachinsky (Nightwood Editions)

Alongside by Anne Compton (Fitzhenry & Whiteside)

Leaving Howe Island by Sadiqa de Meijer (Oolichan Books)

Whirr and Click by Micheline Maylor (Frontenac House Poetry)

Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway by Alexandra Oliver (Biblioasis)

Status Update by Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang (Oolichan Books)

The Pat Lowther Memorial Award is given for a book of poetry by a Canadian woman published in the preceding year, in memory of the late Pat Lowther, whose career was cut short by her untimely death in 1975. The award carries a $1,000 prize. Juror’s Comments and Author Bios.

According to the League of Canadian Poets Notes to Financial Statements March 31, 2013 Note 10 Living Archives The League administers the sale of certain publications, referred to as Living Archives, on behalf of others. Prior to 1997, sale revenues in excess of expenses were accounted for as deferred contributions on the statement of financial position. Beginning in the year ended March 31, 1997, the annual revenues and expenses have been accounted for as revenues and expenses of the League in the statement of operations and changes in net assets. Cumulative revenues and expense since the beginning of the year ended March 31, 1997 are as follows: 2013 2012 _______________________ Total revenues $6,330 $ 6,112 Total expenses 2,661 2,661 _____________________________ $ 3,669 $ 3,451