Michael Gnarowski

by George J. Dance

Michael Gnarowski. Courtesy A Gentleman of Pleasure.

Michael Gnarowski (born 1934) is a Canadian poet, editor, academic, and literary critic.

Life

Youth and education

Gnarowski was born in Shanghai, China.

 He began publishing poetry as an undergraduate at McGill University, in Yes magazine, which he co-edited. He earbed a B.A. from McGill in 1956, attended the University of Indiana in 1959, and earned an M.A. from the Universite de Montreal in 1960 and an Ph.D. from the University of Ottawa in 1967.

Career

Gnarowski served as professor of English at Carleton University in Ottawa from 1972 to 1996, and was founding general editor and founding director of Carleton University Press.

He founded and edited the literary magazine Le Chien d'or/The Golden Dog (1970-1972) and Golden Dog Press (1971-1985). He was also an editor for Delta Press, Tecumseh Press and McGraw-Hill Ryerson's Critical Views on Canadian Writers Series (1969-1977), and Canadian Poetry magazine (1977- ).

Gnarowski has written for the Encyclopedia Americana, Canadian Encyclopedia, McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of World Biography, and Oxford Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry. He is professor emeritus at Carleton.

Gnarowski is the prime mover, and sits on the Organizing Committee, of the Writer's Chapel Trust. The Trust is a non-profit organization that seeks to remember and recognize Canadian writers by placing commemorative bronze placques in St. James the Apostle Anglican Church in Montreal. A placque has been unveiled annually since 2009; writers honoured to date include John Glassco, A.J.M. Smith, F.R. Scott, and A.M. Klein.

Publications

Poetry

• Postscript for St. James Street. Montreal: Delta Canada, 1965.
• The Gentlemen are also Lexicographers. Montreal: Delta Canada, 1969.

Non-fiction

• Milton Acorn: A review in retrospect. Quebec: Culture, 1964.
• Archibald Lampman. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1970.
• A Concise Bibliography of English-Canadian Literature. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1973
  • revised edition, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1978.
• Leonard Cohen: The artist and his critics. McGraw Hill-Ryerson, 1976. ISBN 0-07-082179-8
• I Dream of Yesterday and Tomorrow: A celebration of the James Bay Cree. Kemptville, ON: Golden Dog Press, 2001; Dundurn Press, 2002 ISBN 978-0-91961-490-1

Reference

• Index to Direction: A little magazine edited by Raymond Souster, William Goldberg, David Mullen between November 1943 and February 1946 for a total of 10 issues; an author/title index with select subject headings. Quebec: Culture, 1965.
• Contact, 1952-1954: Being an index to the contents of Contact. Montreal: Delta Canada, 1966.
• A Reference and Bibliographical Guide to the Study of English Canadian literature: Being an annotated guide to bibliographies and reference materials pertaining to English Canadian letters with a check list of selected titles in English Canadian literature. Ottawa: University of Ottawa School of Graduate Studies, 1967.
• Contact Press, 1952-1967: A note on its origins and a checklist of titles. Montreal: Delta Canada, 1970.
• Theses and Dissertations in Canadian Literature (English): A preliminary checklist. Ottawa: Golden Dog Press, 1975.

Edited

• The making of Modern Poetry in Canada: Essential articles on contemporary Canadian poetry in English. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1967.
• Three Early Poems from Lower Canada. Montreal: Lawrence M. Lande Foundation, 1969.
• Robert W. Service: Selected poetry and prose. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2011.

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.

See also

• List of Canadian poets
• List of literary critics
• Timeline of Canadian poetry

References

Fonds

• Gnarowski, Michael 1934 - at Library and Archives Canada

External links

Prose

• articles in the Canadian Encyclopedia

Audio / video

• Michael Gnarowski at SGWU, 1967 (audio)

Books

• Michael Gnarowski at Amazon.com

Etc.

• Writer's Chapel Trust Web Site

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