New Poet Laureate Appointed

Poet George Murray has been chosen as the new Poet Laureate for the City of St. John’s.
 
“George Murray will be an effective and engaging Poet Laureate, and I look forward to working with him over the next four years,” said Councillor Sandy Hickman, Chair of the Arts Advisory Committee. “The nominees for this appointment were all very strong candidates, and the nomination packages were compelling.”
 
George Murray has been widely anthologized and has published many poems and short stories in journals and magazines in Canada, the United States, Australia, and Europe. His six books of poetry include Whiteout (ECW, 2012), Glimpse: Selected Aphorisms (ECW, 2010), The Rush to Here (Nightwood, 2007), and The Hunter (McClelland & Stewart, 2003). His first book for children, Wow Wow and Haw Haw, illustrated by Michael Pittman, is being released this spring from Breakwater Books. Mr. Murray is a former poetry editor for the Literary Review of Canada and has been a contributing editor for several journals, including 49th Shelf, Canadian Notes & Queries, Maisonneuve and The Drunken Boat. He reviews poetry and fiction for the Globe and Mail. He has won or been shortlisted for several awards, and he has been on the part time faculty at the University of Toronto, New School University, and Humber College. He lives in St. John's with the novelist Elisabeth de Mariaffi, four children, and a border collie.
 
The Poet Laureate is an honour bestowed by the City as a way of acknowledging poets and the valuable contribution of poetry to civic life. The Poet Laureate will act as an ambassador for poetry and will integrate poetry into a variety of official and unofficial civic events.
 
“We have so much world-class literary talent in St. John’s and this position is a wonderful way to acknowledge the importance of poetry and literature in our community, as well as to promote literacy and enrich civic events through engagement with the arts,” Hickman explained.
 
A Poet Laureate Selection Sub-Committee of the Arts Advisory Committee reviewed the nominations to the position and St. John’s City Council approved the recommendation at a Special Meeting held March 31, 2014. George Murray will be the City’s third Poet Laureate; the inaugural position was held by Agnes Walsh, from 2006 to 2009, and Tom Dawe most recently held the position from 2010 to 2013.
 
 
For further information:
Jennifer Mills
Communications Officer
City of St. John's
Phone: (709) 570-2037
Cell: (709) 690-7586
E-mail: jmills@stjohns.ca