SGW Poetry Reading Series

Between 1965 and 1974 members of the Sir George Williams University (SGWU, now Concordia University) English Department in Montreal hosted a series of poetry readings that was conceived as an ongoing encounter between local poets and the avant-garde poetics of some of the most important writers from the United States and the rest of Canada. Sponsored by “The Poetry Committee” of the Faculty of Arts and the SGWU English Department—and organized primarily by English professors Howard Fink, Stanton Hoffman, Wynn Francis, Irving Layton, Roy Kiyooka, and (from 1967-71) George Bowering—these readings involved more than sixty poets from across North America.

Known simply as “The Poetry Series”, audio recordings of these readings were made on Mylar 1 mil. tape using mobile reel-to-reel tape machines. The Concordia University Archives received a grant in 2007 that has allowed all 65 reels of tape (more than 100 hours of audio) to be digitized. So, this sound from an interesting period of transformation in Canadian poetics, and of self-scrutiny for Montreal poetry, represents a rich and useable archive for scholarly research.

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Al Purdy
Mar 13, 1970

Allen Ginsberg
Nov 7, 1969
Part 1

Allen Ginsberg
Nov 7, 1969
Part 2

Andreas Schroeder
Maxine Gadd
Feb 18, 1972
Part 1

Andreas Schroeder
Maxine Gadd
Feb 18, 1972
Part 2

Anthony Hecht
Oct 21, 1966

Barbara Howes
Nov 3, 1967

bill bissett
Oct 31, 1969

bpNichol
Lionel Kearns
Nov 22, 1968
Part 1

bpNichol
Lionel Kearns
Nov 22, 1968
Part 2

Charles Reznikoff
Nov 17, 1967

Charles Simic
Nov 19, 1971
Part 1

Charles Simic
Nov 19, 1971
Part 2

Christopher Levenson
Mar 10, 1972
Part 1

Christopher Levenson
Mar 10, 1972
Part 2

D.G. (Douglas Gordon) Jones
Eli Mandel
Mar 7, 1969

Daphne Marlatt
Nov 3, 1970

Daryl Hine
Dec 1, 1967

David Ball
Tom Raworth
Mar 2, 1970

David Bromige
Nov 6, 1970

David McFadden
Gerry Gilbert
Jan 15, 1971

Diane Wakoski
Jan 23, 1970

Dorothy Livesay
Jan 14, 1971
Part 1

Dorothy Livesay
Jan 14, 1971
Part 2

Earle Birney
Feb 23, 1968

Eli Mandel
D.G. (Douglas Gordon) Jones
Mar 7, 1969

F.R. Scott
Feb 22, 1969
Part 1

F.R. Scott
Feb 22, 1969
Part 2

Frank Davey
Feb 6, 1970

Gary Snyder
Nov 5, 1971
Part 1

Gary Snyder
Nov 5, 1971
Part 2

Gary Snyder
Nov 5, 1971
Part 3

Gary Snyder
Nov 5, 1971
Part 4

George Bowering
Jan 1, 1974

George Oppen
Nov 25, 1968

Gladys Hindmarch
Nov 21, 1969

Gwendolyn MacEwen
Nov 18, 1966

Henry Beissel
Jan 13, 1967

Irving Layton
Mar 18, 1967

Jackson Mac Low
Mar 26, 1971
Part 1

Jackson Mac Low
Mar 26, 1971
Part 2

James Wright
Dec 13, 1968

Jerome Rothenberg
Oct 17, 1969

Joe Rosenblatt
Feb 9, 1968

Joel Oppenheimer
Apr 3, 1970

John Logan
Jan 26, 1968

John Newlove
Feb 9, 1968

John Wieners
Oct 8, 1966

Jorge Luis Borges
Feb 29, 1968

Joseph Langland
Mar 8, 1968

Kenneth Koch
Feb 19, 1971

L.E. Sissman
Apr 7, 1972

Margaret Atwood
Alden Nowlan
Oct 13, 1967

Margaret Atwood
Oct 18, 1974

Margaret Avison
Jan 27, 1967

Maxine Gadd
Andreas Schroeder
Feb 18, 1972
Part 1

Maxine Gadd
Andreas Schroeder
Feb 18, 1972
Part 2

Michael McClure
George Montana
Mar 22, 1968

Mike Gnarowski
Jan 13, 1967

Milton Kessler
Nov 14, 1969

Muriel Rukeyser
Jan 24, 1969

Phyllis Webb
Nov 18, 1966

Richard (Dick) Sommer
Dec 2, 1966

Robert Creeley
Feb 24, 1967

Robert Creeley
Jan 1, 1970

Robert Duncan
Apr 19, 1969
Part 1

Robert Duncan
Apr 19, 1969
Part 2

Robert Hogg
Feb 20, 1970

Robert Kelly
Nov 4, 1966

Robin Blaser
Mar 28, 1969

Ron Loewinsohn
Feb 20, 1970

Roy Kiyooka
Dec 2, 1966

Stan Persky
Nov 21, 1969

Ted Berrigan
Dec 4, 1970

Victor Coleman
Mar 3, 1967