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

Canadian Canadians () 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 their being ''C ...

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

and

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single 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 old ...

writer.

Personal life

She was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, and studied at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

and the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY ) is a system of Public education, public colleges and universities in the New York (state), State of New York. It is one of the List of largest universities and university networks by enrollment, larges ...

. During the sixties, Scheier interest and involvement in

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), 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 c ...

and

pacifism Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress in Glasgow in 1901. A related term is ...

grew.

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

and Beverley Daurio 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 in 2008 for his debut collection ''More to Keep Us Warm''. In 2000 after a struggle with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

, 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 ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

and became the literary columnist for the

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

."Legacy: Libby Scheier
, ''

NOW Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Na ...

'', November 20, 2000. In 1988, Scheier joined York University's

creative writing Creative writing is any writing that goes beyond the boundaries of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or technical forms of literature, typically identified by an emphasis on craft and technique, such as narrative structure, character ...

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 The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC) is the national organization of professionally published writers. TWUC was founded in 1973 to work with governments, publishers, booksellers, and readers to improve the conditions of Canadian writers. TWUC adv ...

PEN Canada PEN Canada is one of the 148 centres of PEN International. Founded in 1926, it has a membership of over 1,000 writers and supporters who campaign on behalf of writers around the world who are persecuted, imprisoned and exiled for exercising their r ...

and the

League of Canadian Poets The League of Canadian Poets (LCP), founded in 1966, is a national non-profit arts service organization based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The organization acts as the national association of professional and aspiring poets in Canada. The League co ...

. 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 Canada, Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholar ...

, 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 Clara may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Clara'' (2018 film), a Canadian sci-fi drama * ''Clara'' (2019 film), a Ukrainian animated fantasy film * ''Clara'' (TV series), a German TV series * Clara the Cow, mascot of the Greek TV show '' P ...

York University Libraries York University Libraries (YUL) is the library system of York University in Toronto, Ontario. The four main libraries and one archives contain more than 2,500,000 volumes. History The first York library opened in 1961 at Glendon College and ...

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

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