Phyllis Webb

Phyllis Webb (born 8 April 1927) is a Canadian poet and radio broadcaster.

Born in Victoria, British Columbia, she attended the University of British Columbia and McGill University. In 1949 she ran as a candidate for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, the youngest person to do so. Webb has worked as a writer and broadcaster for the CBC, where in 1965 she created, with William A. Young, the radio programme, "Ideas". From 1967 to 1969, Webb was its Executive Producer. In 1967 she traveled to the Soviet Union, carrying out research on the Russian Revolution of 1917 and on the anarchist Peter Kropotkin, much of which appears in her serial poem "The Kropotkin Poems". Webb has taught at the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria and was writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta from 1980 to 1981.

She lives on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.

Bibliography

* "Trio" - 1954 (with Gael Turnbull and Eli Mandel)
* "Even Your Right Eye" - 1956
* "A Sea is Also a Garden" - 1962
* "Naked Poems" - 1965
* "Wilson's Bowl" - 1980
* "Sunday Water: Thirteen Anti Ghazals" - 1982
* "The Vision Tree: Selected Poems" - 1982
* "Talking" - 1982
* "Water and Light: Ghazals and Anti-Ghazals" - 1984
* "Hanging Fire" - 1990
* "Nothing But Brush Strokes: Selected Prose" - 1995
* "The Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology: A Selection of the 2004 Shortlist" - 2004 (editor)

Criticism

* Cash, Gwen. “Portrait of a Poet: Victoria's Phyllis Webb.” "B.C. Magazine" 6 April 1957: 17.
* Collis, Steve. "Phyllis Webb and the Common Good: Poetry, Anarchy, Abstraction." Vancouver, BC: Talon, 2007.
* Fagan, Cary. “The Articulate Anger of Phyllis Webb.” Books In Canada 20.1 (1991): 21-23.
* Frey, Cecelia. “Phyllis Webb: An Annotated Bibliography.” The Annotated Bibliography of Canada's Major Authors. Eds. Robert Lecker and Jack David. Vol.6. Toronto: ECW, 1985. 489-98.
* Hulcoop, John. “Phyllis Webb and the Priestess of Motion.” Canadian Literature 32 (1967): 29-39.
* Kamboureli, Smaro. “Seeking Shape, Seeking Meaning: An interview with Phyllis Webb.” West Coast Line 25.3 (1991): 21-41.
* Knight, Lorna. “Oh for the Carp of a Critic: Research in the Phyllis Webb Papers.” West Coast Line 26.2 (1992): 120-127.
* Macfarlane, Julian. Rev. of Selected Poems, by Phyllis Webb. The Capilano Review 1 (1972): 53-58.
* Munton, Ann. “Excerpt from an Interview with Phyllis Webb.” West Coast Line 25.3 (1991): 81-85.
* Potvin, Liza. " [http://www.canadianpoetry.ca/cpjrn/vol32/potvin.htm Phyllis Webb: The Voice That Breaks] "
* Sejur, Leila. “Addressing a Presence: An Interview with Phyllis Webb.” Prairie Fire 9.1 (1988): 30-43.

Honours

* Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry, 1982, for "The Vision Tree".
* Canada Council Senior Arts Awards, 1981, 1987.
* Officer of the Order of Canada, 1992.