# Bruce Meyer

Bruce Meyer (born April 23, 1957) is a Canadian poet, broadcaster, and educator. He has authored more than 64 books of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, and literary journalism. He is a professor of Writing and Communications at Georgian College in Barrie and a Visiting Associate at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, where he has taught Poetry, Non-Fiction, and Comparative Literature.
He has appeared on TVO’s More to Life and Big Ideas and CBC’s This Morning with Michael Enright to discuss poetry and the classics. His CBC appearances remain the broadcaster's bestselling spoken-word CD series and inspired his 2000 bestseller The Golden Thread: A Reader’s Journey Through the Great Books.
Recent books of poetry include McLuhan’s Canary (2019), The First Taste: New and Selected Poems (2018), 1967: Centennial Year (2017), The Madness of Planets (2015), The Arrow of Time (2015), Testing the Elements (2014), A Litany of the Makers (2014), A Book of Bread (2011), and The Obsession Book of Timbuktu (2011).
From 1996 to 2003, he was Director of the Writing and Literature Program at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies where he created and directed the Creative Writing, Professional Writing, and Literary Studies programs. He has served as the City of Barrie's inaugural poet laureate.
He has organized dozens of literary conferences and festivals including Orillia's Leacock Summer Festival of Canadian Literature, Georgian College's International Festival of Authors and the first Indigenous Writers of Canada Conference, part of 2015's International Festival of Authors in Toronto.
He has given hundreds of talks on poetry, literature, mythology, creative writing, the works of William Shakespeare and the Homeric tradition. In 2000, he delivered the annual Whidden Lecture at McMaster University, a distinction previously bestowed on physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer and playwright Tom Stoppard.
His works have been published in Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Chile, Mexico, Yemen, Greece, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, and have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Hindi, Chinese, Urdu, Bangla, Greek, and Korean.

## Education

* Certificate of Post-Doctoral Studies, McMaster University, 1990
* Ph.D., Modern British Poetry, McMaster University, 1988
* Master of Arts, English, University of Toronto, 1982
* Bachelor of Arts, Honour English and Renaissance Studies, Victoria College, University of Toronto, 1980

## Teaching

* Visiting Professor, Victoria College, University of Toronto, 2013-
* Professor, University Studies, Liberal Arts, Georgian College, 2007-
* Professor, Laurentian University at Georgian College, 2004-2015
* Special Instructor, University of Toronto, St. Michael's College, 2003–2010
* Professor, Seneca at York Program, 2005

## Career Milestones

* Inaugural Poet Laureate, City of Barrie, 2010-2014
* Co-founder, Barrie Arts and Culture Council, 2007-2011
* Artistic Director, Leacock Summer Festival of Canadian Literature, Orillia, 1998-2008
* Founder and director, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, Creative Writing and Literary Studies program, 1997-2003
* Writer-in-residence, University of Texas at Austin, 1999
* Writer-in-residence, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, 1998
* Researcher/developer, World War One Canadian Literature Collection, National Library of Canada, 1988-1994
* Organizer, Indigenous Writers Conference, Georgian College, and International Festival of Authors, 2013 (a first for Ontario & Canada)
* Broadcaster (with Michael Enright), CBC's This Morning, The Sunday Edition, Great Books, A Novel Idea, Great Poetry: Poetry is Life and Vice Versa
* Discoverer and promoter of lost decade of Canadian Literature—Canada's World War One Trench Literature—published as We Wasn’t Pals: Canadian Poetry and Prose of the First World War (co-edited with Barry Callaghan, afterword by Margaret Atwood); Frank Prewett, The Selected Poems of Frank Prewett (Exile Editions); James Hanley, The German Prisoner (Exile Editions); W. Redvers Dent, Cry Havoc (Rocks Mills Press)

## Select Awards

* Bath Short Story Award (UK), finalist, 2019, 2020
* Bannister Poetry Competition, Niagara Branch, Canadian Authors’ Association, runner-up, 2020
* Libretto Chapbook Poetry Prize (NIG), second runner-up, 2020
* Fish Publishing Short Fiction Prize (IRE), finalist, 2020
* Dr. William Henry Drummond Poetry Prize, third place, 2019
* Thomas Morton Fiction Prize (CAN), runner-up, 2019
* Bath Short Story Award (UK), finalist, 2019
* Anton Chekhov Prize for Fiction (UK), winner, 2019
* Retreat West Fiction Prize (UK), finalist, 2019
* Tom Gallon Fiction Prize, Society of Authors (UK), short list, 2019
* National Poetry Prize (UK), short list, 2019
* London Independent Short Story Prize (UK), double short list, 2018
* Fish Publishing Poetry Prize (IRE), short list, 2018
* The Woolf Poetry Prize (Switzerland), winner, 2018
* Freefall Poetry Prize (CAN), third place, 2015, 2018
* Montreal International Poetry Prize, short List, 2015, 2017
* Simcoe Medal for services to the Arts in Barrie, 2017 & Barrie Arts Award, 2015
* Raymond Souster Prize (CAN), finalist, 2016
* Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Prize (CAN), short list, 2015, 2016
* Barrie Arts Awards, Excellence in the Arts, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015
* Gwendolyn MacEwen Prize for Poetry (CAN), best single poem winner, 2015, 2016
* Fred Cogswell Prize for best book of poems in Canada, third place, 2015
* Indie Fab Award Finalist (US), Independent Reviewers Association, 2015
* IP Medal best book of poetry (US), Independent Booksellers Association of America, 2015
* Inaugural Poet Laureate, City of Barrie, 2010-2014
* Ruth Cable Memorial Prize for Poetry (US), 1996
* E.J. Pratt Gold Medal and Prize for Poetry, 1980, 1981
* Alta Lind Cook Award (CAN), 1981, 1982
* TV Ontario Best Lecturer Competition, top-ten finalist, 2010
* Lifetime Pass, Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York, 1998
* Quoted on Heritage Toronto Plaque, Queen and Broadview