Dennis Lee / en 茄子直播 alum and adjunct prof Anne Michaels named Toronto poet laureate /news/u-t-alum-and-adjunct-prof-anne-michaels-named-toronto-poet-laureate <span class="field field--name-title field--type-string field--label-hidden">茄子直播 alum and adjunct prof Anne Michaels named Toronto poet laureate</span> <span class="field field--name-uid field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden"><span>sgupta</span></span> <span class="field field--name-created field--type-created field--label-hidden"><time datetime="2015-10-14T11:33:03-04:00" title="Wednesday, October 14, 2015 - 11:33" class="datetime">Wed, 10/14/2015 - 11:33</time> </span> <div class="field field--name-field-author-reporters field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/authors-reporters/arthur-kaptainis" hreflang="en">Arthur Kaptainis</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-author-legacy field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Author legacy</div> <div class="field__item">Arthur Kaptainis</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-story-tags field--type-entity-reference field--label-hidden field__items"> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/more-news" hreflang="en">More News</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/writer" hreflang="en">Writer</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/university-college" hreflang="en">University College</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/poetry" hreflang="en">Poetry</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/poet-laureate" hreflang="en">poet laureate</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/pier-giorgio-di-cicco" hreflang="en">Pier Giorgio Di Cicco</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/george-elliott-clarke" hreflang="en">George Elliott Clarke</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/faculty-arts-science" hreflang="en">Faculty of Arts &amp; Science</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/english" hreflang="en">English</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dionne-brand-0" hreflang="en">Dionne Brand</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/dennis-lee" hreflang="en">Dennis Lee</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/city" hreflang="en">City</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/anne-michaels" hreflang="en">Anne Michaels</a></div> <div class="field__item"><a href="/news/tags/alumni" hreflang="en">茄子直播</a></div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-subheadline field--type-string-long field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">Subheadline</div> <div class="field__item">All five poets laureate have been members of 茄子直播 community</div> </div> <div class="clearfix text-formatted field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden field__item"><p>The University of Toronto has a lock on local couplets 鈥 again.</p> <p><strong>Anne Michaels</strong>, an adjunct professor of English and former Barker Fairley Distinguished Visitor in Canadian Studies at University College, has been named Toronto鈥檚 poet laureate. She follows <strong>George Elliott Clarke</strong>, the E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at 茄子直播.</p> <p>鈥淭oronto is fortunate to embrace dozens of languages and has an invaluable literary history,鈥 Michaels said in a statement released by the City of Toronto. 鈥淚 am looking forward to celebrating our many voices, old and new."</p> <p>The&nbsp;native Torontonian graduated from 茄子直播 in 1980 and&nbsp;launched her literary career in 1986 with <em>The Weight of Oranges</em>. <em>Miner鈥檚 Pond</em> (1991) received the National Magazine Award, the Canadian Authors Association Award for Poetry and a nomination for the Governor General's Award.</p> <p>Michaels鈥檚 most recent volume of poetry, <em>Correspondences</em> (2014), is an elegy to her father, replete with references to 20th-century artistic and intellectual figures. Published with folded pages in the manner of an accordion, the book was shortlisted for the 2014 Griffin Poetry Prize.</p> <p>Among her most acclaimed works is the 1996 novel <em>Fugitive Pieces</em>, which won the Trillium Book Award, the Chapters/Books in Canada First Novel Award, the Guardian Book Prize and Orange Prize for Fiction (U.K.) and America鈥檚 Lannan Literary Award for Fiction. The movie based on this book was screened on the opening day of the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival.</p> <p>Michaels is Toronto鈥檚 fifth poet laureate; all five have been members of the 茄子直播 community.</p> <p>First in 2001 was 茄子直播 alumnus and former Victoria College English instructor <strong>Dennis Lee</strong>. He was followed by <strong>Pier Giorgio Di Cicco</strong>, an alumnus who became a visiting professor in the St. Michael鈥檚 College graduate department of Italian studies; and <strong>Dionne Brand</strong>, an alumna of both 茄子直播 and OISE.</p> <p>The university has&nbsp;figured in the work of the poets it has touched or generated. <em>Fugitive Pieces</em>, a novel about war and memory, includes as a major character Athos Roussos, a geologist who escapes Greece during the Second World War to take a position at 茄子直播. Michaels has called the war the 鈥渇ormative event鈥 for people of her generation.</p> <p>Michaels鈥檚 interest in multiculturalism and language is manifested in this novel particularly in the figure of&nbsp;Jakob Beer, an orphan from Nazi-occupied Poland whose acquisition of Greek and English erases his memory of the Holocaust.</p> <p>"With that book, I was asked am I Jewish, am I Catholic, am I Greek,鈥 Michaels told <em>The Guardian</em> newspaper in 2009.&nbsp;鈥淎nd, yes, I did resist answering, because I really feel that to answer would be a cop-out."</p> <p>Michaels, who founded the long-distance creative writing program at 茄子直播's School of Continuing Studies,&nbsp;was named one of the inaugural University College 茄子直播 of Influence in 2012. Her term as poet laureate, to be confirmed by Toronto City Council in November, will last for three years.</p> <p>Clarke is delighted by the nomination of Michaels and the link to 茄子直播.</p> <p>"Whenever I teach Canadian Poetry, I always point out the strong connection between Canada's most appreciated Eglish-language poets and the University of Toronto," he told <em>茄子直播 News</em>.</p> <p>"After all, this was the home of poet <strong>E.J. Pratt</strong> and the great critic <strong>Northrop Frye</strong>.&nbsp;Together, they nurtured the finest poets of the mid-20th century, including <strong>Margaret Atwood</strong> and <strong>Jay Macpherson</strong>, and made Canadian poetry a distinctive, valued genre for creativity and for study.</p> <p>"Anne Michaels is an heir to the marvelous legacy engendered by this institution. Perhaps alumni will now raise funds for a Poets<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">鈥</span>&nbsp;Tower to join the splendid Soldiers<span style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;">鈥</span>&nbsp;Tower on our campus."</p> <p>Organizations and individuals took to social media to congratulate&nbsp;Michaels and thank&nbsp;Clarke for his services. Among them was mayor and 茄子直播 alumnus&nbsp;<strong>John Tory</strong>,&nbsp;who tweeted: "I want to thank George Elliott Clarke for serving as Toronto's Poet Laureate &amp; all he鈥檚 done to promote our city鈥檚 diverse voices."</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/10/14/anne-michaels-is-torontos-new-poet-laureate.html">Read the <em>Toronto Star </em>story on the poet laureate</a></p> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-news-home-page-banner field--type-boolean field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">News home page banner</div> <div class="field__item">Off</div> </div> <div class="field field--name-field-picpath field--type-string field--label-above"> <div class="field__label">picpath</div> <div class="field__item">sites/default/files/2015-10-14-anne-michaels-twitter.jpg</div> </div> Wed, 14 Oct 2015 15:33:03 +0000 sgupta 7352 at