Libby Scheier (May 31, 1946 – November 14, 2000) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest ...

writer.

Personal life

She was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and studied at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York. The college models its approach to education after the Supervision system, Oxford/Cambridge system of one-on-one student-faculty tutorials. Sara ...

and the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...

. During the sixties, Scheier interest and involvement in

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st centuries. In some countries, ...

and

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

grew.

Robert Priest Robert Priest (born July 10, 1951, in Walton-on-Thames, England) is a Canadian poet, children's author and singer/songwriter. He has written eighteen books of poetry, four children's novels, four children's albums, and six CDs of songs and poems. ...

and

Beverley Daurio Beverley Daurio (born 1953) is a Canadian writer and editor. Formerly editor-in-chief of ''Poetry Canada Review'' and editor and publisher of ''Paragraph: the Canadian Fiction Review'' (formerly Cross Canada Writers Quarterly owned by Ted Plantos) ...

were her friends of over twenty years. Her son

Jacob Scheier Jacob Scheier (born February 2, 1980) is a Canadians, Canadian poet born in Toronto. His debut poetry collection, ''More to Keep Us Warm'', was published by ECW Press in 2007 and was named the winner of the 2008 Governor General's Awards, 2008 Gove ...

is also a poet. He won the

Governor General's Award for English language poetry This is a list of recipients and nominees of the Governor General's Awards award for English-language poetry. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English language poetry or drama was divided.breast cancer Breast cancer is cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipple, a newly inverted nipple, or a re ...

, Scheier died in Toronto at the age of fifty-four.

Career

After living in France, California and Israel, in 1975, Scheier moved to

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

and became the literary columnist for the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

."Legacy: Libby Scheier
, '' NOW'', November 20, 2000. In 1988, Scheier joined York University's creative writing program. In 1994, she founded the Toronto Writing Workshop and also became its director. In Canada, Scheier was a member of the Writers' Union of Canada, PEN Canada and the League of Canadian Poets. Other affiliations included the Trotskyist League of Canada, the Canadian Abortion Rights Action League, Women and Words, and the Cross-Cultural Communication Centre.

Works

Poetry

* ''The Larger Life''. (Black Moss Press, 1983) * ''Second Nature''. (

Coach House Press Coach House Books is an independent book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Coach House publishes experimental poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction. The press is particularly interested in writing that pushes at the boundar ...

, 1986) * ''Sky: a poem in four pieces''. (Mercury Press, 1990) * ''Kaddish for my father: new and selected poems''. (

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholarly book ...

, 1999)

Fiction

* ''Saints and Runners'' (Mercury Press, 1993)

Anthologies

* ''Language in Her Eye - Writing and Gender (Views by Canadian Women Writing in English)''. (Coach House Press, 1990)

References

External links

Libby Scheier archives
are held at the Clara Thomas Archives and Special Collections, York University Libraries,

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

1946 births 2000 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian women poets Canadian women short story writers 20th-century Canadian women writers 20th-century Canadian short story writers {{Canada-poet-stub