Betsy Struthers

Betsy Struthers

Born in Toronto, Betsy Struthers lives in Peterborough, Ontario, where she works as a freelance editor, poet and novelist. President of the League of Canadian Poets from 1995 to 1997, she has also been both co-ordinator of the League's Feminist Caucus and chair of its educational committee. In the latter role, she co-edited (with Sarah Klassen) Poets in the Classroom (Pembroke Press, 1995), an anthology of essays by members of the League on teaching poetry to all age and experience levels. She has conducted workshops to students from elementary school children to adults, and has read her poems across Canada, in the USA and Australia.

Awards
GritLit Poetry Prize, 2010
Pat Lowther Award, 2004, for Still.
Cross-Canada Writers' Magazine Editors' Prize, second prize, 1988.
Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award, short list, 1993.
Milton Acorn Memorial People's Poetry Award, runnerup, 1994.
Tilden CBC- Saturday Night Award finalist, 1996.

Selected Publications
Driven (Black Moss Press, 2000) ISBN 00753-345-0.
Still (Black Moss Press, 2003) ISBN: 0-88753-378-7
In Her Fifties (Black Moss Press, 2005) ISBN: 0-88753-402-3
Where the Night Comes Closest (Black Moss Press, 2008) ISBN: 978-0-88753-449-2
Relay: Short Fictions (Black Moss Press, 2010) ISBN: 9780887534720

Selected Anthologies
In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry (Polestar, 2005) ISBN: 1-55192-777-2
Going Top Shelf: An Anthology of Canadian Hockey Poetry (Heritage House, 2005) ISBN: 1-894384-99-7
Pith & Wry: Canadian Poetry (Scrivener Press, 2010) ISBN: 978-1-896350-41-7

Books in Print
Struthers, Betsy
Found: A Body (fiction, Simon & Pierre, 1992) ISBN: 0-88924-237-2, $18.95
Grave Deeds (fiction, Simon &Pierre/Dundurn Press, 1994) ISBN: 0-88924-257-7
A Studied Death (fiction, Simon & Pierre/Dundurn Press, 1995) ISBN: 0-88924-266-6

Betsy Struthers, 702 Ross St, Peterborough ON K9H 2C9
E-mail: bstruthers@cogeco.ca
Website: http://www.betsystruthers.ca

Poet in the School
(Peterborough)

phone: 705-745-8824

Struthers is a poet, editor and novelist. She has published five collections of poetry: Censored Letters, Saying So Out Loud, Running Out of Time, Drive, Still, and three murder mysteries, the most recent, A Studied Death, published in the fall of 1995. Recipient of two Canada Council B Grants in support of her work, Struthers has read her poems across Canada, in Australia and in the United States. She has given workshops for teachers and students at all levels and is co-editor (with Winnipeg poet Sarah Klassen) of a guide for teaching poetry, Poets in the Classroom, an anthology of essays by members of the League of Canadian Poets. Her latest book is Still (Black Moss Press).

Grade Levels: 9 - OAC

Fees: standard

Classroom Approach:
Her approach varies with the size, interests and grade level of the students. With small groups, Struthers favours intensive readings of each other's work in draft, a "hands-on" approach to revision. With larger groups, she focuses on a particular aspect of the creative experience, how to use the tools of the craft, the language, to turn a perception into a poem. In the classroom, Struthers reads and discusses her own poems and encourages questions not only on the writing process, but on publication, the community of poets, the relevance of poetry, the economics of art, and so on. It helps if students are familiar with Struthers' work prior to her visit. She will bring books for sale, and copies of reviews are available upon request.