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.
His 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 also 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
Bibliography
Poetry
The Hart Island Elegies, Urban Farmhouse Press, Windsor (forthcoming, May 2021)
Grace of Falling Stars, Black Moss Press, Windsor (forthcoming, April 7, 2021)
Telling the Bees, Libretto Press, Lagos, Nigeria, 2020
McLuhan's Canary, Guernica Editions, Oakville, 2019
The First Taste: New and Selected Poems, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2018
1967: Centennial Year, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2017
To Linares, Accento and Universidad Technologica Linares, Linares & Guadalajara, Mexico, 2016
The Madness of Planets, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2015
The Arrow of Time, Ronsdale Press, Vancouver, 2015
The Seasons, Porcupine's Quill, Erin, Ontario, 2014
Testing the Elements, Exile Editions, Toronto, 2014
The Obsession Book of Timbuktu, Black Moss Press, Windsor
A Litany of the Makers, Lyrical Myrical Press, Toronto, 2014
A Book of Bread, Exile Editions, Toronto, 2011
Alphabestiary: A Poetry-Emblem Book (with H. Masud Taj), Exile Editions, 2011
Bread: A Mass for Voices, Lyrical Myrical Press, Toronto, 2009
Dog Days: A Comedy of Terriers, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2009
Mesopotamia, Scrivener Press, Sudbury, 2009
As Yet, Untitled..., Lyrical Myrical Press, Toronto, 2006
Oceans, Word Press, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2005
Oceans, Exile Editions, Toronto, 2004
The Spirit Bride, Exile Editions, Toronto, 2002
Anywhere, Exile Editions, Toronto, 2000
The Presence, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 1999
The Presence, Story Line Press, Ashland, Oregon, 1999
Radio Silence, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 1991
The Open Room, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 1989
The Open Room, Aquilla Press, 1989
Steel Valley (with James Deahl), Aureole Point Press, 1984
The Aging of America, Aloysius Press, 1982
The Tongues Between Us, SWOP, 1981 (36 pages)
Fiction
The Hours: Stories from a Pandemic (short stories), AOS Publishing, Montreal, 2021
Down in the Ground (flash fiction), Guernica Editions, Oakville, 2020
A Feast of Brief Hopes (short stories), Guernica Editions, Oakville, 2018
A Chronicle of Magpies (short stories), Tightrope Books, Toronto, 2014
Flights (short stories), Canadian-Korean Literary Forum Press, Toronto, 2004
Goodbye Mr. Spalding (short stories), Black Moss Press, Windsor, 1996
Non-Fiction
Pressing Matters: A Story of Canadian Small Press Publishing, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2019
Portraits of Canadian Writers, Porcupine's Quill, Erin, 2016
Time of the Last Goal: Why Hockey is Our Game, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2014
Alphabet Table: Memoir of a Childhood in the Language, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2010
Heroes: The Champions of Our Literary Imaginations, Harper Collins, Toronto, 2007
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 282: The New Formalists, (co-edited with Jonathan Barron) Bruccoli Clarke Layman, Columbia, South Carolina, 2003
The Golden Thread: A Reader's Journey Through the Great Books, Harper Collins Canada, Toronto, 2000
Lives and Works: Interviews with Canadian Writers (with Brian O’Riordan), Black Moss Press, Toronto, 1991
In Their Words: Interviews with Canadian Writers (with Brian O’Riordan), Anansi, Toronto, 1985
Poetry Markets for Canadians (with James Deahl), League of Canadian Poets, Toronto, 1983
Works edited
That Dammed Beaver: Canadian Comedy Writing, Exile Editions, 2018
Dent, W. Redvers. Cry Havoc, Rocks Mills Press, Oakville, 2018
Cli-Fi: Canadian Tales of Climate Change, Exile Editions, Toronto, 2018
We Wasn't Pals: Canadian Poetry and Prose of the First World War 2nd Edition (with Barry Callaghan), Exile Editions, 2014
The White-Collar Book: Canadian Poetry and Prose of the Professional World (with Carolyn Meyer), Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2011
Hanley, James. The German Prisoner. Exile Editions, 2007
Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 282: The New Formalists (with Jonathan Baron), Bruccoli Clarke Layman, Columbia, South Carolina, 2003
Bae-Sa Moh: Writing by Korean-Canadian Youth, KCLF Press, Toronto, 2002
We Wasn't Pals: Canadian Poetry and Prose of the First World War (with Barry Callaghan), Exile Editions, 2001
Separate Islands: Contemporary British and Irish Poetry (with Carolyn Meyer), Quarry Press, 1987
The Selected Poems of Frank Prewett (with Barry Callaghan), Exile Editions, 1987
Arrivals: Canadian Poetry in the Eighties, Greenfield Press, 1986
Poetry Markets for Canadians (with James Deahl, 1st ed.), League of Canadian Poets, 1986
Edited selected works by other authors
Books by Michael Mirolla, Marty Gervais, Victoria Butler, Antonia Facciponte, Kate Story, Karen Lee White, Christine Ottoni.
Clarke, James. Selected Poems. Exile Editions, Toronto, 2012
Stevens, Peter. Swimming in the Afternoon: The Selected Poems of Peter Stevens. [ed. and intro.] Black Moss Press, Windsor, 1992
Monteith, Lionel. And So He Went Sailing: The Collected Poems of Lionel Monteith. [ed. and intro.] Lincoln Publications, London, 1991
Tomlinson, Charles. Selected and New Poems. [ed.] Exile Editions, Toronto, 1989
Wevill, David. Figure of Eight: New Poems and Selected Translations. [ed.] Exile Editions, Toronto, 1987
Wevill, David. Other Names for the Heart: Selected Poems, 1964-1984. [ed.] ExileEditions, Toronto, 1985
Deahl, James. No Cold Ash: Selected Poems, 1966–1982. Sono Nis Press, 1984.
Cassette Tapes and CDs
Great Poetry: Poetry Is Life and Vice Versa (with Michael Enright), CBC Radio, 2006
The Great Books, Part One (with Michael Enright), CBC Radio, 1999 [The Bible, The Odyssey, The Theban Plays, The Aeneid, Metamorphoses]
The Great Books, Part Two (with Michael Enright) CBC Radio, 1999 [Boethius, A Consolation of Philosophy; Saint Augustine, The Confessions; The Quest of the Holy Grail and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight; Dante, Inferno; Dante, La Vita Nuova; Shakespeare, The Sonnets]
The Great Books, Part Three (with Michael Enright) CBC Radio, 1999 [Vasari, Lives of the Artists; Machiavelli, The Prince; More, Utopia; Shakespeare, King Lear; Shakespeare, The Tempest; Milton, Paradise Lost; Joyce, Ulysses].
A Novel Idea (with Michael Enright) CBC Radio, 2000 [The Origins of the Novel, The Gothic Novel, The Historical Novel, The Novel of Ideas, The Prophetic Novel, The Role of the Novel].
Podcasts
Great Poetry (with Michael Enright and Billy Collins), Ideas, CBC Radio One and CBC Enterprises, March–May 2006
Articles on Bruce Meyer's Work
Benjamin Ghan. Bruce Meyer: Canadian Writers Series. Guernica Editions, Hamilton (forthcoming, 2023)
Juan de Dios Torralbo-Caballero. The Poetry of Bruce Meyer: The inaugural poet laureate of the city of Barrie. Granada, Comares. 2015
T.L. Ponick. Dictionary of Literary Biography. Vol. 282. 2003
References
Living people
20th-century Canadian poets
Canadian male poets
Canadian literary critics
Academic staff of Laurentian University
1957 births
Chapbook writers
20th-century Canadian male writers
Canadian male non-fiction writers
Academic staff of the University of Toronto