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Blaine Marchand

 

Member profile details

Membership level
Full
First name
Blaine
Last name
Marchand
Country
Canada
 

ABOUT

Profile picture
Biography
Blaine Marchand was born in Ottawa in 1949. His poetry and prose has appeared in magazines across Canada and in the United States.

He has won several prizes for his writing, including 2nd Prize in the 1990 National Poetry Contest and the Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry for his book A Garden Enclosed. His two most recent books, Aperture and The Craving of Knives were short-listed for the Archibald Lampman Award in 2009 and 2010.

He has six books of poetry published, a children's novel and a work of non-fiction. His newest collection, Becoming History, will be published in the autumn of 2021 by Aeolus House Press of Toronto.
He has been active in the literary scene in Ottawa for over 40 years, having been a co-founder of the Canadian Review, Sparks magazine and radio show, the Ottawa Independent Writers and the Ottawa Valley Book Festival.

He was the President of the League of Canadian Poets from 1991-93 and was also active in the league in several capacities. He was a monthly columnist for Capital XTRA, the GLTB community paper, for nine years.

He has returned to Canada after a two-year posting in Islamabad, Pakistan, has retired, and is now writing full-time.
 

PUBLICATIONS AND RECOGNITION

Books and other publications
Selected Publications
After the Fact. (Borealis Press, 1979).
Ottawa A to Z (non-fiction). (Duneau Press, 1980).
Open Fires. (Anthos Books, 1987).
African Journey (novel). (Mediasphere, 1990).
Aventure africaine ( Media-Sphere, 1990 ) ISBN: 0-662-96297-4
A Garden Enclosed. (Cormorant Books, 1991).
Bodily Presence. (Quarry Press, 1994).
Aperture (Buschek Books, 2008) ISBN: 978-1-894543-46-0
The Craving of Knives (Buschek Books, 2009) ISBN: 978-1-894543-58-3

Selected Anthologies
Garden Varieties. (Cormorant Books, 1988).
Capital Poets: An Ottawa Anthology. (Ouroboros, 1989).
More Garden Varieties Two. (Mercury Press, 1990).
Pith and Wry (Scrivener Press, 2010) ISBN: 978-1896350-41-7
Seminal (Arsenal, 2007) ISBN: 978-1-55152-217-3

Books in Print
Marchand, Blaine
A Garden Enclosed (Cormorant Books, 1991)ISBN: 0-920953-52-2, $9.95
Bodily Presence (Quarry Press, 1994) ISBN: 1-55082-141-5, $14.95
Aperture (Buschek Books, 2008) ISBN: 978-1-894543-46-0, $17.50
The Craving of Knives (Buschek Books, 2009) ISBN: 978-1-894543-58-3, $17.50
Awards and other achievements
Georgia May Cook Sonnet Award, 1971.
Anthos Poetry Prize, 1987.
The League of Canadian Poets National Poetry Contest, second prize, 1990.
Archibald Lampman Award, 1992.
The Craving of Knives, 2nd Prize,1990 National Poetry Contest
A Garden Enclosed, Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry, 1995
Aperture, Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry short list, 2009
The Craving of Knives, Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry short list 2010
 

BOOK THIS POET TODAY

Contact poet directly
Blaine Marchand, 2-51 Warren Avenue, Ottawa, ON K1Y 0R9
Phone: 613-728-7844
E-mail: blainemarchand@hotmail.com

Poet in the School
(Ottawa)

phone: 613-728-7844

Blaine Marchand was born in Ottawa, where he now lives. His poetry, interviews with Canadian authors, and reviews have been published in magazines and newspapers across Canada and the US. He has been involved in the establishment and editing of several literary periodicals in the Ottawa region. He also began a weekly poetry program on FM radio, an was the impetus behind the regional annual literary festival during National Book Week. He is a co-founder of the Ottawa Independent Writers, a lobby group of local writers. From 1992 to 1994 he was President of the League of Canadian Poets.

Grade Levels: 6 - OAC

Fees: standard

Classroom Approach:
The approach he takes depends on the need of the teacher and the students. Basically there are two approaches: a reading and a discussion (this is for students who are familiar with the novel African Journey, or for students in the Ottawa area who have studied his poetry) or a workshop built to have the students write their own poetry (or creative writing). In the latter case, he uses exercises that build awareness of poetic techniques, imagery (metaphor, simile), style (narrative, lyric), etc.
Poets in the Schools (Ontario)
  • Poets in the Schools (primary grades)