If one poet can be said to be the Canadian poet, that poet is Al Purdy (1918–2000). Numerous eminent scholars and writers have attested to this pre-eminent status. George Bowering described him as “the world’s most Canadian poet” (1970), while Sam Solecki titled his book-length study of Purdy The Last Canadian Poet (1999). In The Ivory Thought: Essays on Al Purdy, a group of seventeen scholars, critics, writers, and educators appraise and reappraise Purdy’s contribution to English literature. They explore Purdy’s continuing significance to contemporary writers; the life he dedicated to literature and the persona he crafted; the influences acting on his development as a poet; the ongoing scholarly projects of editing and publishing his writing; particular poems and individual books of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction; and the larger themes in his work, such as the Canadian North and the predominant importance of place. In addition, two contemporary poets pay tribute with original poems.

Gerald Lynch was born in Ireland, where he frequently visits, and grew up in Canada. Omphalos is his sixth book of fiction. In 2015 Signature Editions published Missing Children, his fifth, the novel that introduced Detective Kevin Beldon. These novels were preceded by Troutstream, Exotic Dancers, and two books of short stories, Kisbey and One’s Company. A Professor mainly of Canadian literature at the University of Ottawa (occasionally offering a seminar in contemporary Irish fiction), earlier this year Gerald published the co-edited Alice Munro's Miraculous Art: Critical Essays. He has edited a number of other books and published many short stories, essays, and reviews, and had his work translated into a number of languages. He has also authored two books of non-fiction, Stephen Leacock: Humour and Humanity and The One and the Many: Canadian Short Story Cycles. He has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the gold award for short fiction in Canada’s National Magazine Awards.

Gerald Lynch's profile page

Shoshannah Ganz has published work on E.J. Pratt, Elizabeth Smart, Miriam Waddington, and Rachel Korn among others. She teaches English at Sir Wilfrid Grenfell College, Memorial University.

Shoshannah Ganz's profile page

Josephene Kealey is a doctoral student in English at the University of Ottawa. She is writing a thesis comparing the short story cycles of a number of Canadian and American writers.

Josephene Kealey's profile page

"The Ivory Thought [is] an excellent and information collection, geared toward the specialist but certainly accessible by the general reader." -- Canadian Literature