Bruce Meyer (born April 23, 1957) is a Canadian poet, broadcaster, and educator. He has authored more than 64 books of poetry, short fiction, non-fiction, and literary journalism. He is a professor of Writing and Communications at Georgian College in Barrie and a Visiting Associate at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, where he has taught Poetry, Non-Fiction, and Comparative Literature.
His has appeared on TVO’s More to Life and Big Ideas and CBC’s This Morning with Michael Enright to discuss poetry and the classics. His CBC appearances remain the broadcaster's bestselling spoken-word CD series and inspired his 2000 bestseller The Golden Thread: A Reader’s Journey Through the Great Books.
Recent books of poetry include McLuhan’s Canary (2019), The First Taste: New and Selected Poems (2018), 1967: Centennial Year (2017), The Madness of Planets (2015), The Arrow of Time (2015), Testing the Elements (2014), A Litany of the Makers (2014), A Book of Bread (2011), and The Obsession Book of Timbuktu (2011).
From 1996 to 2003, he was Director of the Writing and Literature Program at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies where he created and directed the Creative Writing, Professional Writing, and Literary Studies programs. He also served as the City of Barrie's inaugural poet laureate.
He has organized dozens of literary conferences and festivals including Orillia's Leacock Summer Festival of Canadian Literature, Georgian College's International Festival of Authors and the first Indigenous Writers of Canada Conference, part of 2015's International Festival of Authors in Toronto.
He has given hundreds of talks on poetry, literature, mythology, creative writing, the works of William Shakespeare and the Homeric tradition. In 2000, he delivered the annual Whidden Lecture at McMaster University, a distinction previously bestowed on physicist Robert J. Oppenheimer and playwright Tom Stoppard.
His works have been published in Canada, United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, India, Pakistan, China, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Chile, Mexico, Yemen, Greece, Australia, Denmark, Netherlands, and have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Hindi, Chinese, Urdu, Bangla, Greek, and Korean.
Education
Certificate of Post-Doctoral Studies, McMaster University, 1990
Ph.D., Modern British Poetry, McMaster University, 1988
Master of Arts, English, University of Toronto, 1982
Bachelor of Arts, Honour English and Renaissance Studies, Victoria College, University of Toronto, 1980
Teaching
Visiting Professor, Victoria College, University of Toronto, 2013-
Professor, University Studies, Liberal Arts, Georgian College, 2007-
Professor, Laurentian University at Georgian College, 2004-2015
Special Instructor, University of Toronto, St. Michael's College, 2003–2010
Professor, Seneca at York Program, 2005
Career Milestones
Inaugural Poet Laureate, City of Barrie, 2010-2014
Co-founder, Barrie Arts and Culture Council, 2007-2011
Artistic Director, Leacock Summer Festival of Canadian Literature, Orillia, 1998-2008 Founder and director, University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies, Creative Writing and Literary Studies program, 1997-2003 Writer-in-residence, University of Texas at Austin, 1999 Writer-in-residence, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, 1998 Researcher/developer, World War One Canadian Literature Collection, National Library of Canada, 1988-1994 Organizer, Indigenous Writers Conference, Georgian College, and International Festival of Authors, 2013 (a first for Ontario & Canada) Broadcaster (with Michael Enright), CBC's This Morning, The Sunday Edition, Great Books, A Novel Idea, Great Poetry: Poetry is Life and Vice Versa Discoverer and promoter of lost decade of Canadian Literature—Canada's World War One Trench Literature—published as We Wasn’t Pals: Canadian Poetry and Prose of the First World War (co-edited with Barry Callaghan, afterword by Margaret Atwood); Frank Prewett, The Selected Poems of Frank Prewett (Exile Editions); James Hanley, The German Prisoner (Exile Editions); W. Redvers Dent, Cry Havoc (Rocks Mills Press)