Bruce Meyer

Bruce Meyer (born April 23, 1957) is a Canadian poet, broadcaster, and educator. He has authored over 60 books of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, and literary journalism. He is a professor of Writing and Communications at Georgian College in Barrie and a Visiting Associate at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, where he has taught Poetry, Non-Fiction, and Comparative Literature.

He has appeared on TVO’s More to Life and Big Ideas and CBC’s This Morning with Michael Enright to discuss poetry and the classics. His CBC appearances remain the broadcaster's bestselling spoken-word CD series and inspired his 2000 bestseller The Golden Thread: A Reader’s Journey Through the Great Books.

Recent books of poetry include McLuhan’s Canary (2019), The First Taste: New and Selected Poems (2018), 1967: Centennial Year (2017), The Madness of Planets (2015), The Arrow of Time (2015), Testing the Elements (2014), A Litany of the Makers (2014), A Book of Bread (2011), and The Obsession Book of Timbuktu (2011).

From 1996 to 2003, he was Director of the Writing and Literature Program at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies where he created and directed the Creative Writing, Professional Writing, and Literary Studies programs. He has served as the City of Barrie's inaugural poet laureate.

He has organized dozens of literary conferences and festivals including Orillia's Leacock Summer Festival of Canadian Literature, Georgian College's International Festival of Authors and the first Indigenous Writers of Canada Conference, part of 2015's International Festival of Authors in Toronto.

He has given hundreds of talks on poetry, literature, mythology, creative writing, the works of William Shakespeare and the Homeric tradition. In 2000, he delivered the annual Whidden Lecture at McMaster University, a distinction previously bestowed on physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer and playwright Tom Stoppard.

His works have been published in Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Chile, Mexico, Yemen, Greece, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, and have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Hindi, Chinese, Urdu, Bangla, Greek, and Korean.

Education Certificate of Post-Doctoral Studies, McMaster University, 1990 Ph.D., Modern British Poetry, McMaster University, 1988 Master of Arts, English, University of Toronto, 1982 Bachelor of Arts, Honour English and Renaissance Studies, Victoria College, University of Toronto, 1980

Teaching Visiting Professor, Victoria College, University of Toronto, 2013- Professor, University Studies, Liberal Arts, Georgian College, 2007- Professor, Laurentian University at Georgian College, 2004-2015 Special Instructor, University of Toronto, St. Michael's College, 2003–2010 Professor, Seneca at York Program, 2005

Career Milestones

Inaugural Poet Laureate, City of Barrie, 2010-2014 Co-founder, Barrie Arts and Culture Council, 2007-2011 Artistic Director, Leacock Summer Festival of Canadian Literature, Orillia, 1998-2008 Founder and director, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, Creative Writing and Literary Studies program, 1997-2003 Writer-in-residence, University of Texas at Austin, 1999 Writer-in-residence, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, 1998 Researcher/developer, World War One Canadian Literature Collection, National Library of Canada, 1988-1994 Organizer, Indigenous Writers Conference, Georgian College, and International Festival of Authors, 2013 (a first for Ontario & Canada) Broadcaster (with Michael Enright), CBC's This Morning, The Sunday Edition, Great Books, A Novel Idea, Great Poetry: Poetry is Life and Vice Versa Discoverer and promoter of lost decade of Canadian Literature—Canada's World War One Trench Literature—published as We Wasn’t Pals: Canadian Poetry and Prose of the First World War (co-edited with Barry Callaghan, afterword by Margaret Atwood); Frank Prewett, The Selected Poems of Frank Prewett (Exile Editions); James Hanley, The German Prisoner (Exile Editions); W. Redvers Dent, Cry Havoc (Rocks Mills Press)

Select Awards Bath Short Story Award (UK), finalist, 2019, 2020 Bannister Poetry Competition, Niagara Branch, Canadian Authors’ Association, runner-up, 2020 Libretto Chapbook Poetry Prize (NIG), second runner-up, 2020 Fish Publishing Short Fiction Prize (IRE), finalist, 2020 Dr. William Henry Drummond Poetry Prize, third place, 2019 Thomas Morton Fiction Prize (CAN), runner-up, 2019 Bath Short Story Award (UK), finalist, 2019 Anton Chekhov Prize for Fiction (UK), winner, 2019 Retreat West Fiction Prize (UK), finalist, 2019 Tom Gallon Fiction Prize, Society of Authors (UK), short list, 2019 National Poetry Prize (UK), short list, 2019 London Independent Short Story Prize (UK), double short list, 2018 Fish Publishing Poetry Prize (IRE), short list, 2018 The Woolf Poetry Prize (Switzerland), winner, 2018 Freefall Poetry Prize (CAN), third place, 2015, 2018 Montreal International Poetry Prize, short List, 2015, 2017 Simcoe Medal for services to the Arts in Barrie, 2017 & Barrie Arts Award, 2015 Raymond Souster Prize (CAN), finalist, 2016 Carter V. Cooper Short Fiction Prize (CAN), short list, 2015, 2016 Barrie Arts Awards, Excellence in the Arts, Lifetime Achievement Award, 2015 Gwendolyn MacEwen Prize for Poetry (CAN), best single poem winner, 2015, 2016 Fred Cogswell Prize for best book of poems in Canada, third place, 2015 Indie Fab Award Finalist (US), Independent Reviewers Association, 2015 IP Medal best book of poetry (US), Independent Booksellers Association of America, 2015 Inaugural Poet Laureate, City of Barrie, 2010-2014 Ruth Cable Memorial Prize for Poetry (US), 1996 E.J. Pratt Gold Medal and Prize for Poetry, 1980, 1981 Alta Lind Cook Award (CAN), 1981, 1982 TV Ontario Best Lecturer Competition, top-ten finalist, 2010 Lifetime Pass, Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, New York, 1998 Quoted on Heritage Toronto Plaque, Queen and Broadview