John B. Lee

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.

Books by John B. Lee

Something Else

Moths That Drink the Tears of Sleeping Birds

Beautiful Stupid

Because We Have Lived Here

The Widow's Land

The Full Measure

Building Bicycles in the Dark

In This We Hear The Light

Burning My Father

In the Muddy Shoes of Morning

Island on the Wind Breathed Edge of the Sea

Tough Times

The Place We Keep After Leaving

Bonjour Burgundy

Godspeed

Farm on the Hill He Calls Home, The

Poems for the Pornographer's Daughter

Body Language

In the Terrible Weather of Guns

Smaller Than God

The Half-Way Tree

Don't be so Persnickety

Henry's Creature

Following the Plow

Losers First

Stella's Journey

I Want to be the Poet of Your Kneecaps

Soldier's Heart

Never Hand Me Anything If I'm Walking or Standing

These Are the Days of Dogs and Horses

Variations on Herb

When Shaving Seems Like Suicide

Pig Dance Dreams, The

Rediscovered Sheep

Hired Hands

To Kill a White Dog

Poems Only a Dog Could Love