B.C.-based poet DC Reid is a former president of the League of Canadian Poets who was twice shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize.Supplied
The Writers’ Trust of Canada announced a new $1.5-million endowment from British Columbia writer DC Reid. Funded over 10 years, the DC Reid Poets’ Grant will perpetually disperse eight annual $5,000 grants to Canadian poets who are of modest means (which is to say, most all of them).
The program was launched a year ago to assist poets who have published two books and who earned less than $30,000 in the previous year. Anonymous applicants are assessed by a nameless jury based on literary excellence, with consideration given to financial need.
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“Sometimes poets just need a bit of time to worry less about bills so they can create lasting art that resonates,” Calgary-born Reid said in a statement. “Oftentimes, that art helps to heal from the inside out, allowing many people to benefit.”
Reid is a former president of the League of Canadian Poets who was twice shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, awarded annually to the best collection of poetry by a B.C. resident. He also writes extensively on fishing. His 1995 novel was The Knife Behind the Gills. His memoir, A Man and His River, was published by Hancock House in 2022.
“Poets are an essential part of our literary landscape, and their contributions must be supported,” said David Leonard, executive director of the Writers’ Trust. “DC gets that.”
The 2024 submission window for the DC Reid Poets’ Grant is open until Sept. 9. Details are available at the Writers’ Trust website.
The value of poets was also recognized earlier this year by Eurithe Purdy, widow of the iconic Canadian poet Al Purdy, who launched the Al and Eurithe Purdy Poetry Prize. It is worth $10,000 to the best new book of poetry in this country.
“Al and I enjoyed a long and wonderful career together subsisting on the meagre earnings of poetry and benefitted greatly from numerous awards that both buoyed our morale and helped pay the rent,” Purdy said in March. “I have always wanted to return the favour and help support new generations of Canadian poets.”
In April, Alberta-based Sid Marty won the inaugural prize for Oldman’s River: New and Collected Poems, a collection of poems that celebrate the vicissitudes of rural life. The winner was selected by Purdy in consultation with advisers and literary mavens.
“Sid Marty is a plain-spoken poet with a distinctive Canadian voice very much in the Purdy tradition,” Purdy said in a press release. “In fact, he was a good friend of Al’s and got his first big break when Al included him in the landmark anthology Storm Warning: The New Canadian Poets in 1971.”