Burgundy is more than a place on the map of France. It is also a place which inspires and provokes the senses, both physical and spiritual...wine, food, light, history, memories, churches, people and much more. From its Gaulish past through the Roman period, from the period of the monastic orders through to the ascendancy of the Dukes of Burgundy and into the modern period, Burgundy has been a mecca for culture, the arts and for countless travelers from many places. The inspiration for writing comes in many forms and writing refracts experience in many ways. "Bonjour Burgundy" is a chronicle of how one place has inspired a variety of writing. Each year, for the past four years, writers from Canada, mainly from the Windsor area and including creative writing students from the University of Windsor, have assembled at a remote, hillside farm in the heart of rural Burgundy, in the Auxois region, at La Roche d'Hys. They walk, they write, they talk, they read, they eat, they drink, they tour...and then, magically, the writing appears! Some of the writers are new and emerging-ing, others, established and known, a few are renowned and widely acclaimed. In "Bonjour Burgundy", you will enjoy a new and yet very old 'take' on Burgundy - the sites, the sounds, the colors, the people, the creatures, the history...

In 2005 John B. Lee was inducted as Poet Laureate of Brantford in perpetuity. In 2011 he was appointed Poet Laureate of Norfolk County (2011-14) and in 2015 Honourary Poet Laureate of Norfolk County for life and in 2017 he received a Canada 150 Medal from the Federal Government of Canada for “his outstanding contribution to literary development both at home and abroad.” A recipient of over eighty prestigious international awards for his writing, he is winner of the $10,000 CBC Literary Award for Poetry, the only two time recipient of the People’s Poetry Award, and 2006 winner of the inaugural Souwesto Orison Writing Award (University of Windsor). He has well-over seventy books published to date and is the editor of seven anthologies including two best-selling works: That Sign of Perfection: poems and stories on the game of hockey; and Smaller Than God: words of spiritual longing. His work has appeared internationally in over 500 publications, and has been translated into French, Spanish, Korean and Chinese. He has read his work in nations all over the world including South Africa, France, Korea, Cuba, Canada and the United States. He has received letters of praise from Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Australian Poet, Les Murray, and Senator Romeo Dallaire. Called “the greatest living poet in English,” by poet George Whipple, he lives in Port Dover, Ontario where he works as a full time author.

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