Bruce Meyer


Bruce Meyer 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 '', The First Taste: New and Selected Poems, 1967: Centennial Year, The Madness of Planets , The Arrow of Time , Testing the Elements , A Litany of the Makers , A Book of Bread, and The Obsession Book of Timbuktu''.
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
  • Broadcaster, 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 ; Frank Prewett, The Selected Poems of Frank Prewett ; James Hanley, The German Prisoner ; W. Redvers Dent, Cry Havoc''

    Select Awards

  • Bath Short Story Award, finalist, 2019, 2020
  • Bannister Poetry Competition, Niagara Branch, Canadian Authors’ Association, runner-up, 2020
  • Libretto Chapbook Poetry Prize, second runner-up, 2020
  • Fish Publishing Short Fiction Prize, finalist, 2020
  • Dr. William Henry Drummond Poetry Prize, third place, 2019
  • Thomas Morton Fiction Prize, runner-up, 2019
  • Bath Short Story Award, finalist, 2019
  • Anton Chekhov Prize for Fiction, winner, 2019
  • Retreat West Fiction Prize, finalist, 2019
  • Tom Gallon Fiction Prize, Society of Authors, short list, 2019
  • National Poetry Prize, short list, 2019
  • London Independent Short Story Prize, double short list, 2018
  • Fish Publishing Poetry Prize, short list, 2018
  • The Woolf Poetry Prize, winner, 2018
  • Freefall Poetry Prize, 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, finalist, 2016
  • Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Prize, short list, 2015, 2016
  • Barrie Arts Awards, Excellence in the Arts, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015
  • Gwendolyn MacEwen Prize for Poetry, best single poem winner, 2015, 2016
  • Fred Cogswell Prize for best book of poems in Canada, third place, 2015
  • Indie Fab Award Finalist, Independent Reviewers Association, 2015
  • IP Medal best book of poetry, Independent Booksellers Association of America, 2015
  • Inaugural Poet Laureate, City of Barrie, 2010-2014
  • Ruth Cable Memorial Prize for Poetry, 1996
  • E.J. Pratt Gold Medal and Prize for Poetry, 1980, 1981
  • Alta Lind Cook Award, 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

    Poetry

  • The Hart Island Elegies, Urban Farmhouse Press, Windsor
  • Grace of Falling Stars, Black Moss Press, Windsor
  • 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 '', 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, Aquila Press, 1989
  • Steel Valley, Aureole Point Press, 1984
  • The Aging of America, Aloysius Press, 1982
  • The Tongues Between Us'', SWOP, 1981

    Fiction

  • The Hours: Stories from a Pandemic, AOS Publishing, Montreal, 2021
  • Down in the Ground, Guernica Editions, Oakville, 2020
  • A Feast of Brief Hopes, Guernica Editions, Oakville, 2018
  • A Chronicle of Magpies, Tightrope Books, Toronto, 2014
  • Flights, Canadian-Korean Literary Forum Press, Toronto, 2004
  • Goodbye Mr. Spalding, 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, 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, Black Moss Press, Toronto, 1991
  • In Their Words: Interviews with Canadian Writers, Anansi, Toronto, 1985
  • Poetry Markets for Canadians, 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, Exile Editions, 2014
  • The White-Collar Book: Canadian Poetry and Prose of the Professional World, Black Moss Press, Windsor, 2011
  • Hanley, James. The German Prisoner. Exile Editions, 2007
  • Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 282: The New Formalists, 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, Exile Editions, 2001
  • Separate Islands: Contemporary British and Irish Poetry, Quarry Press, 1987
  • The Selected Poems of Frank Prewett, Exile Editions, 1987
  • Arrivals: Canadian Poetry in the Eighties, Greenfield Press, 1986
  • Poetry Markets for Canadians, League of Canadian Poets, 1986