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~ John B. Lee ~

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	In 2005 John B. Lee was inducted as Poet Laureate of Brantford in perpetuity. The same year he received the distinction of being named Honourary Life Member of The Canadian Poetry Association. In 2007 he was made a member of the Chancellor's Circle of the President's Club of McMaster University. A recipient of over sixty prestigious international awards for his writing he is winner of the $10,000 CBC Literary Award for Poetry, the only two time recipient of the People's Poetry Award, and 2006 winner of the inaugural Souwesto Orison Writing Award (University of Windsor/Black Moss Press). In 2007 he was named winner of the Winston Collins Award for Best Canadian Poem. He has well-over forty-five books published to date and is the editor of six anthologies including two best-selling works: That Sign of Perfection: poems and stories on the game of hockey; and Smaller Than God: words of spiritual longing. His work has appeared internationally in over 500 publications, and has been translated into French, Spanish, Korean and Chinese. He has read his work in nations all over the world including South Africa, France, Korea, Cuba, Canada and the United States. He has received letters of praise from Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Australian Poet, Les Murray, and Senator Romeo Dallaire. Called "the greatest living poet in English," by poet George Whipple, he lives in Port Dover, Ontario where he works as a full time author.
Memberships: League of Canadian Poets, 1981-present The Canadian Poetry Association, 1981-2004 The Writers' Union of Canada, 1991-present Canadian Children's Authors, Illustrators, and Performers, 1993-present P.E.N. International, 1991-1999 Sport Literature Association, 1993-present Society for Hockey Research, 1993-present Canadian Author's Association, 1999-present Honourary Life Member The Ontario Poetry Society, 2001 Honourary Life Member The Canadian Poetry Society, 2005
Published Books: Poems Only A Dog Could Love, (poetry) Applegarth Follies, London, Ontario, 1976 Love Among the Tombstones, (poetry) Dogwood Press, Simcoe, Ontario, 1980 Fossils of the Twentieth Century, (poetry) Vesta Publications, Cornwall, Ontario, 1983 Small Worlds, (poetry) Vesta Publications, Cornwall, Ontario, 1986 Hired Hands, (poetry and prose) Brick Books, 1986 Rediscovered Sheep, (poetry) Brick Books, 1987 The Bad Philosophy of Good Cows, (poetry) Black Moss Press, Windsor, Ontario, 1989 The Hockey Player Sonnets, (poetry) Penumbra Press, 1991 The Pig Dance Dreams, (poetry) Black Moss Press, 1991 When Shaving Seems Like Suicide, (poetry) Goose Lane Editions, Fredericton, NB, 1992 The Art of Walking Backwards, (poetry) Black Moss Press, 1993 Variations on Herb, (poetry and prose) Brick Books, London, Ontario, 1993 All the Cats Are Gone, (poetry) Penumbra Press, 1993 These Are the Days of Dogs and Horses, (poetry) Black Moss Press, 1994 Head Heart Hands Health: A History of 4H in Ontario, (non fiction) Comrie Productions, Peterborough, Ontario, 1994 The Beatles Landed Laughing in New York, (poetry) Black Moss Press, 1995 Tongues of the Children, (documentary poetry and prose) Black Moss Press, 1996 Never Hand Me Anything if I am Walking or Standing, (poetry) Black Moss Press, 1997 Soldier's Heart, (poetry) Black Moss Press, 1998 Stella's Journey, (poetry and prose) Black Moss Press, 1999 Don't Be So Persnickety, (children's verse) Black Moss Press, 2000 Building Bicycles in the Dark: a practical guide to writing, (non fiction) Black Moss Press, 2001 The Half-Way Tree: selected poems of John B. Lee, (poetry) Black Moss Press, 2001 In the Terrible Weather of Guns, (documentary poetry and prose) Mansfield Press, Toronto, 2002 The Hockey Player Sonnets: overtime edition (poetry) Penumbra Press, Ottawa, Ontario, 2003 Totally Unused Heart, (poetry) Black Moss Press, 2003 The Farm on the Hill He Calls Home, (memoir) Black Moss Press, 2004 Poems for the Pornographer's Daughter, (poetry and prose) Black Moss Press, 2005 Godspeed, (documentary poetry and prose) Black Moss Press, 2006 Left Hand Horses: meditations on influence and the imagination, (Black Moss Press, 2007) The Place That We Keep After Leaving, (forthcoming, Black Moss Press, 2008) Island on the Wind-Breathed Edge of the Sea, Hidden Brook Press, 2009 Dressed in Dead Uncles, Black Moss press, 2010 Being Human, Sanbun Publishing, 2010 In the Muddy Shoes of Morning, Hidden Brook Press, 2010 King Joe: A Matter of Treason--The LIfe and Times of Joseph Willcocks, Heronwood Enterprises, 2011 Let Us Be Silent Here (2012) - Read a review of this book by Yosef Gotlieb In This We Hear the Light (the Cuba poems), Hidden Brook Press, 2012 poems by John B. Lee, photographs by Tai Grove You Can Always Eat the Dogs: the hockeyness of ordinary men, Black Moss Press, 2012
Published Chapbooks: To Kill a White Dog, (documentary poem) Brick Books, 1982 The Day Jane Fonda Came to Guelph, (poetry) The Ploughman Press, Whitby, Ontario, 1996 What's in a Name: the pursuit of George Peacock, Namesake of Peacock Point, (essay) Dogwood Press, Brantford, Ontario, 1996 In a Language with No Word For Horses, (documentary poems) above/ground press, Ottawa, ON, 1997 The Echo of Your Words Has Reached Me, (poetry) Mekler & Deahl, Hamilton, Ontario, 1998 An Almost Silent Drumming: the South Africa poems, (poetry) Cranberry Tree Press, Windsor, ON, 2001 Thirty-Three Thousand Shades of Green, (poetry) Leaf Press, Lantzville, BC, 2004 Though Their Joined Hearts Drummed Like Larks, (documentary poetry) Passion Among the Cacti Press, Kitchener, Ontario, 2004 Bright Red Apples of the Dead, (poetry) Pooka Press, BC, 2004 How Beautiful We Are, (poetry) Souwesto Orion Prize, Black Moss Press, 2006 But Where Were the Horses of Evening, (Serengeti Press, 2007) One Leaf in the Breath of the World, Beret Days Book, (winner of the Grassroots Chapbook award) 2009 Let Light Try All the Doors, Rubicon Press, (winner of the Rubicon Press chapbook award) 2009
Books Edited by John B. Lee: That Sign of Perfection: From Bandy Legs to Beer Legs (poems and stories on the game of hockey), (anthology) Black Moss Press, 1995 Losers First: poems and stories on game and sport, (anthology) Black Moss Press, 1999 I Want to Be the Poet of Your Kneecaps: poems of quirky romance, (anthology) Black Moss Press, 1999 Following the Plough: poems and stories on the land, (anthology) Black Moss Press, 2000 Henry's Creature: poems and stories on the automobile, (anthology co-edited with Roger Bell) Black Moss Press, 2000 Smaller Than God: words of spiritual longing, (anthology co-edited with Brother Paul Quenon) Black Moss Press, 2001 Body Language: a head-to-toe anthology, (anthology) Black Moss Press, 2003 Witness: anthology of war poetry, (anthology) Serengeti Press, Mississauga, Ontario, 2004 Let Light Try All the Doors: words from La Roche D'Hys, (Mosaic Press, 2008) Sweet Cuba: The Building of a Poetic Tradition: 1608-1958 Cuban poetry in Spanish with English translations by Dr. Manuel de Jesus Velazquez Leon and John B. Lee, Hidden Brook Press, 2010 Tough Times: When the money doesn't love us, Edited by John B. Lee, Black Moss Press, 2010 When the Full Moon Comes: poems and stories from Santiago de Cuba, selected and edited by John B. Lee, Hidden Brook Press, 2011 An Unfinished War: War of 1812 poetry and prose, selected and edited by John B. Lee, Black Moss Press, 2012 Beyond the Seventh Morning: poems on spirituality and nature, co-edited by Manuel Leon and John B. Lee, Hidden Brook Press, 2012 AWARDS: American Poetry Association's Annual Poetry Award, 1st place, 1985 Cross-Canada Writer's Quarterly, 2nd Runner Up, 1988 Roundhouse Poetry Award, 1st place, 1989 and 1990 The Nova Scotia Poetry Award, 1st place, 1989 Charterhouse Poetry Award of London England, short-list, 1990 CBC Radio Literary Award for Poetry, 2nd place, 1990 Milton Acorn Memorial People's Poetry Award, Runner-up 1987, Winner 1993 and 1995 The League of Canadian Poets Competition, Honourable Mention, 1993 Matrix Magazine Travel Writing Award, 1st Place, 1994 The Tilden Award, (CBC Radio/Saturday Night Magazine), Winner, 1995 Confederation Poetry Award, Honourable Mention, 1995 Humanitas Poetry Award, Honourable Mention, 1995 Canadian Writer's Journal Poetry Award, Honourable Mention, 1995 The Tilden Award, short list, 1996 People's Poetry Award, winner, 1996 Milton Acorn Memorial People's Poetry Award, short list, 1996 Arc Magazine Best Poem Award, Honourable Mention, 1996 Petro-Canada Poet Laureate, 1996 CBC Literary Awards, short list, 1997 Trillium Awards, Nominee, 1996 and 1997 Canadian Author's Association Literary Awards, Nominee, 1996 and 1997 Leacock Poetry Award, top-ten, 1997 O.A.C. Works in progress grants, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996 Frith Press Chapbook Award, Honourable Mention, 1997 Acorn-Rukeyser Chapbook Award, short-list, 1998 Sandburg Livesay Short list, 1997 and 1998 People's Political Poem Award, winner, Winter 1997 Amethyst Magazine Harbour Writing Award, winner, 1997 Fiddlehead Magazine Poetry Award, short-list, 1998 Milton Acorn Memorial People's Poetry Award, short-list 1998 This Magazine's Great Canadian Literary Hunt, Honourable Mention, 1998 The Canadian Literary Awards, short list (CBC radio/Saturday Night, 1998) People's Poetry Award, nominee, 1999 Canadian Author's Association Poetry Book Award, nominee, 1999 b p Nichol Chapbook Award, nominee, 1999 Pushcart Prize, Nominee, 1999 Literary Network News, Top Ten Canadian Poetry books, winter 1999 Literary Network News, Top Five Canadian Poetry chapbooks, spring 1999 University of Windsor Review Poetry Prize, third place, 2000 Cranberry Tree Press Poetry award, first place, 2000 Lexikon Poetry Award, 2000 Sandburg Livesay Poetry Award, Honourable Mention, 2000 Milton Acorn Memorial People's Poetry Award, short-list 1999-2000 Editor's Prize Open Window II Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award Short list, 2003 The Great Canadian Literary Hunt, short list, 2003 Canadian Literary Award short list, 2002 Certificate of Excellence for outstanding achievement in literature, Ridgetown District High School Hall of Fame, April 28, 2002 Ontario Poetry Society Life Member, 2002 Eric Hill Award of Literary Excellence in poetry, Qwerty magazine and University of New Brunswick, spring 2003 Ontario Poetry Society chapbook award Honourable Mention, 2003 Eric Hill Award of Literary Excellence in poetry, Qwerty magazine and University of new Brunswick, 2005 CV2 poetry award, 2nd place, 2005 Shaunt Basmajian chapbook award, First Runner Up, 2005 Acorn Rukeyser chapbook award, short list, 2005 Canadian Poetry Association Life Member Award, 2005 appointed Poet Laureate of Brantford, 2005 Souwesto Poetry Award, 2006 Acorn Plantos People's Poetry Award short list, 2006 CBC Literary Awards, short list, 2006 Tracking a Serial Poet, short list, 2006 Canada Council Writers' Grant, $20,000 (spring 2006) Vallum Poetry Award, 2nd prize, spring 2006 Winston Collins Award for the Best Canadian Poem of 2007
Contact information: John B. Lee Poet Laureate of Brantford and of Norfolk County PO Box 984 415 Nelson Street West Port Dover, Ontario N0A 1N0 Telephone: (519) 583-9027 Email John Web site: www.johnblee.ca