Dorothy Livesay, one of Canada’s best known poets, was born in Winnipeg in 1909. She was educated at the Universities of Toronto, Sorbonne and British Columbia.

Although she worked as a journalist, editor, broadcaster, teacher (including a teaching post in northern Rhodesia) social worker and university lecturer, Dorothy Livesay was best known for her poetry and prose writing.

Since her first poem appeared in the Vancouver Province newspaper some 70 years ago she went on to publish more than 25 books of poetry and prose.

She believed writing is a political act as well as an artistic one. This conviction is evident in her work which includes long documentary poems on subjects such as the internment of Japanese Canadians and shorter lyrics with more personal themes.

Dorothy Livesay’s range of interest as exemplified in her poetry was personal, sexual, social, educational, and political. Her later work was concerned with the plight of the aging in a society geared for the young.

Her chief passion was to encourage young poets in self-knowledge and self-expression.

In addition to her literary contributions, Dorothy Livesay was a passionate advocate of women’s rights, social justice and peace. She was a highly original thinker and educator.