John Steffler


John Steffler is a Canadian poet and novelist. He served as Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate from 2006 to 2008.

Biography

John Steffler was born in Toronto, Ontario, on 13 November 1947, and grew up in a rural area near Thornhill, Ontario. He obtained a B.A. in English from University College, University of Toronto, in 1971, and an M.A. in English from the University of Guelph, with a thesis titled "The Origin and Development of Los: a Study of the Prophetic Poetry of William Blake". He taught at the Department of English, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, from 1975 until 2006. He has served as writer-in-residence and part-time faculty at University of New Brunswick, University of Guelph, and Concordia University, and has facilitated workshops with the Banff Centre and Sage Hill writing programs. After leaving Newfoundland in 2006, Steffler lived in Montreal until 2008, and until 2019 divided his time between Montreal and rural Ontario, where he presently lives with his wife, poet Susan Gillis.

Poetry

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy Canadian Poetry Online.