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Edmonton Appoints Second Poet Laureate  

July 6, 2007 - Edmonton…Alberta’s capital and the 2007 Cultural Capital of Canada, is pleased to announce the appointment of its second poet laureate. Mayor Stephen Mandel, in announcing Edmonton poet and writer E. D. Blodgett as poet laureate of Edmonton for the next two years, underlined Edmonton’s solid recognition of the key role that the arts play in Canada’s major cities and towns. 

E.D. (Ted) Blodgett, FRSC, is University Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta.  He is currently teaching at MacEwan College and the Campus Saint-Jean where he is professeur auxiliaire in Études canadiennes.  His research has varied from mediaeval European romance to Canadian Comparative Literature.  His publications include Five-Part Invention: A History of Literary History in Canada (Toronto University Press, 2003) and Elegy (University of Alberta Press, 2005).  He has published 17 books of poetry, of which 2 were awarded the Governor General’s Award.   He is preparing two others.  A bilingual edition of his French poems, Le poème invisible, will be published in 2008. 

E. D. Blodgett commented on his appointment, “Should someone ask whether Edmonton needs a poet laureate, I would ask another question: Do cities need poetry? Many cities prefer to live continually on the edge of an often chaotic future, removing the past as frequently as possible.  If poetry offers anything, it offers futures by its recoveries of different kinds of past, by speaking, as it were, of lost objects–old watches, a child’s shoe, a mother’s comb. 

Poetry recovers life and makes it speak of what we were, how we are, what we might want to be, and all of this almost simultaneously.  Poetry gives us what we miss, and if we miss it, we miss something unrecoverable that the future arriving seamlessly takes away.”

"Culture is for everyone; art is for everyone. And with poems about hockey playoffs and potholes, our first Poet Laureate proved that poetry is for everyone too," says Edmonton Mayor, Stephen Mandel.  "The City is honoured that Ted Blodgett will share poetry about and around the Capital City and that he will continue to remind us all of the value of art and creativity in our growing cultural community.” 

The Mayor also thanked Alice Major, Edmonton’s highly praised and first poet laureate who brought such enthusiasm and energy to the inaugural position.  "Alice has shown us all how significant poetry can be to a city," he added.  "She embraced the position and I know has laid an excellent foundation which Dr. Blodgett will continue to grow." 

As Edmonton's first Poet Laureate, Alice Major spoke and read for schools, libraries, community groups, business associations as well as frequently at City Hall. She made excellent connection to poet laureates in other Canadian cities and provinces as well as Canada’s national poet laureate. She pushed literary education and founded Edmonton’s exciting Poetry Festival. 

Through donated funds, the Poet Laureate will serve a two-year term and will receive a $5,000 per year honorarium.  Members of the public can contact the Poet Laureate by emailing poet.laureate@edmonton.ca 

 

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