CCA BULLETIN / BULLETIN DE LA CCA
Celebrating Poetry in Canada and Beyond
Ottawa , March 19, 2004 - Sunday, March 21st, marks World Poetry Day, UNESCO's annual celebration of the artform. This year, UNESCO will pay special tribute to Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda on the centenary of his birth.
Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, notes the importance of poetry in modern times: “In a world overwhelmed by noise and slogans, poetry brings us a different way of telling its history, with its dreams and its divisions, thanks to the diversity of the world's languages.”
Closer to home, the Department of Canadian Heritage is marking the occasion by highlighting events accross the country. See the Canadian Heritage's World Poetry Day website for more information: www.canadianheritage.gc.ca/special/arts/poesie/poesie_e.cfm .
Canada 's Poet Laureate George Bowering notes in his World Poetry Day message that the act of writing a poem is a natural reaction to a world around us: “I don't know about you, but to me the most likely response to the world is to write something about the world. I don't think that writing is magic. I think that it comes from the imagination. If you can imagine a world, you can write one, and if you work hard and enjoy yourself and write well, you will create a world.”
April is National Poetry Month
The League of Canadian Poets will celebrate National Poetry Month this April. Established in 1999, the month is an opportunity for poets, publishers, educators and the general public to promote poetry in Canada and Canadian poetry beyond our borders.
The League has created a “baker's dozen” of poetry: a list of 13 essential pieces of Canadian poetry in each official language for readers beginning their exploration of our country's poetry.
“The baker 's dozen is meant as a starting place from which we can promote Canadian poets and their poetry,” said Edita Page, Executive Director of the League of Canadian Poets. “It's important to the League to communicate the richness and depth of poetic talent in this country.We're the envy of much of the literary world.”
The League of Canadian Poets has also created youngpoets.ca, a website designed for young people and educators to help introduce poetry to Canadian youth in and out of the classroom.
For more information on the baker's dozen lists and National Poetry Month activities, go to the Canadian League of Poets website at www.poets.ca .
For more information:
Kevin Desjardins
Communications and Public Relations Manager
(613) 238 3561 ext.11
Fax (613) 238 4849
14/04
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