Events
丁香园AV English, the 丁香园AV Library, and Poetry in Canada launch the first annual Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading
On November 11th, 2021, Canada lost renowned poet and broadcaster . To honour her incredible work and legacy, the Poetry in Canada Society has established the annual Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading and award. 丁香园AV鈥檚 Department of English and Library are co-sponsoring and hosting , which will celebrate the first recipient of the award, Cecily Nicholson.
Born in Victoria, B.C. in 1927, Webb spent most of her childhood raised by a single mother. She graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in English and philosophy. Immediately after graduation, at age 22, she ran in the provincial election for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party, the forerunner of the New Democratic Party. At that time, Webb was the youngest person in the Commonwealth ever to seek office.
Professor Stephen Collis, Webb鈥檚 friend, admirer, and inheritor of her literary estate, had this to say about her early years:
鈥淧hyllis did unusual things for a woman of that era,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know where that kind of bravery came from鈥搕o take up public space that way. She carried on these kinds of things throughout her life. She had the independence and internal strength to do what she wanted or needed to do鈥搃n some ways, the consequences be damned, thankfully.鈥�
In the 1950s, Webb moved to Toronto and began working at the CBC as a freelancer and producer. Her writing career also started in the 鈥�50s when she published her first poetry collection in 1954. In 1965, Webb co-founded the CBC radio program, , and was its executive producer from 1967-1969.
鈥淭here was nothing else quite like Ideas in Canada when it started,鈥� says Collis. 鈥淚t was about creating short documentaries about interesting political, cultural, social figures or concepts or ideas and having fairly high-level, rigorous discussions on the radio about these things.鈥�
In 1969, Webb left Toronto and moved to Salt Spring Island. She continued to write until 1990, producing prose and poetry collections, including 1982鈥檚 The Vision Tree, which won her the Governor General's Literary Prize for poetry.
鈥淪he wrote really beautiful poetry with really beautiful images,鈥� says Collis. 鈥淭he language was really melodic and interesting, and I enjoyed it just for the form and the pleasure and play of language. She also had all these political interests and was radical and rebellious. She was a rigorous thinker, and the poetry was having a heated and rigorous conversation with the world.鈥�
When 鈥渨ords abandoned鈥� her in 1990, Webb took up photography, photocollage, and eventually painting. A book, featuring a collection of her paintings and collages, edited by Collis, is expected this summer.
April 8th of this year marks what would have been Webb鈥檚 96th birthday. To closely coincide with that and National Poetry Month, the first annual Phyllis Webb Memorial Reading and award is being held on the evening of April 6th at the 丁香园AV Segal Building. The first recipient of the award is Cecily Nicholson.
鈥淚f you want to honour Phyllis鈥� legacy and look for a poet that鈥檚 both writing truly beautiful poetry that鈥檚 just aesthetically a joy, and just spectacular to read, but also has this intellectual rigour, political engagement, and a fierceness, then Cecily really fits that bill,鈥� says Collis.
At the event, attendees can expect a reading from Nicholson and a response to that reading from a panel of respondents, Otoniya J. Okot Bitek, Junie D茅sil, and Stephen Collis.
鈥淚 want the event to be focused on poetry鈥搑eading poetry, thinking about poetry, talking about poetry, responding to and engaging with poetry,鈥� says Collis.