Maxine Tynes

Maxine Nellie Tynes (30 June 194912 September 2011) was a Canadian poet, writer, and educator.

Early life and education A descendent of Black Loyalists, Tynes was born on 30 June 1949 and raised in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. She contracted polio at age 4, which left her right leg paralyzed. Unable to attend school for several years due to her illness, Tynes was taught to read and write by her mother Ada Maxwell Tynes, a homemaker.

Publications Tynes wrote four poetry anthologies, all published by Pottersfield Press of Lawrencetown.

Honours A room in the Alderney Gate Public Library in downtown Dartmouth was formally named The Maxine Tynes Room on 14 June 1990, and features a portrait of Tynes by artist Rosemary McDonald. The same portrait appears on the cover of Woman Talking Woman.

In 1992, Tynes was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax.

In 2021, the Writers' Federation of Nova Scotia named its poetry award the Maxine Tynes Nova Scotia Poetry Award.