Colleen Thibaudeau

Colleen Thibaudeau (December 29, 1925 – February 6, 2012) was a Canadian poet and short-story writer. A graduate of the University of Toronto, she began writing poetry for a number of magazines under the pseudonym M. Morris in the 1950s to the 1960s before going to publish eight books during the 1960s to the 1990s. The League of Canadian Poets established a literary award in Thibaudeau's name and a play set to music based on her words was staged in London, Ontario, in March 2013.

Early life Thibaudeau was born on December 29, 1925, She was the daughter of the high school teacher and writer of Acadian descent John Stewart Thibaudeau and his wife, Alice ( Pryce) Thibaudeau, the Belfast-born war bride. Thibaudeau had one brother and a younger sister. She had been influenced by the poet Margaret Avison during her time at the university. Thibaudeau's collection work, Ten Letters, followed in 1975, with My Granddaughters Are Combing Out Their Long Hair coming in 1977.

Molly Peacock, the series editor of The Best Canadian Poetry in English, called her the "secret national treasure" of Canada, adding "You could say she was our Carol Shields of poetry, though of course she started before Shields, taking the ideas for her poems from dropped threads of domesticity and exalting them with her casual but timeless lines." A play set to music based on Thibaudeau's words called Collenning was held at London, Ontario's Arts Project Theatre in March 2013.