Lorna Crozier wins the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievment Award

I was really pleased to hear that Lorna Crozier won this award.  I sent this letter c/o VPL

Dear Ms Crozier,

I wish to congratulate you on winning the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award. You made a tremendous difference to many of my students when I invited you to do a reading at Esquimalt Secondary School in the 90's. I remember you being quite concerned about the audience being around 200 teenagers. You asked if just the students who were particularly interested and who chose to come could be the audience. I replied that would only be around five students and they didn't need to get turned on to poetry. I did assure you they would be well behaved and while I thought they would react positively I couldn't guarantee enthusiasm. They all would have studied some of your poetry.

The positive reaction of my students exceeded my wildest expectations and after the reading you were mobbed like a rock star!

Thank you again for giving my students this incredible experience.

Sincerely,

Janice Sexton

From the VPL newsletter:

Lorna Crozier is presented with the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award, B.C.'s most prestigious literary honour. The presentation will be followed by a reading from Crozier, who will be inducted into VPL's "Walk of Fame." Past award recipients include Wayson Choy, Jean Barman, W.P. Kinsella, Alice Munro, David Suzuki and Rolf Knight.

The evening will also include a prize presentation for author Travis Lupick, winner of the 2018 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness.

Presented in partnership with the Writers' Trust of Canada and Dr. Yosef Wosk.

ONIONS

Lorna Crozier
From:   Sex Lives of Vegetables.

The onion loves the onion.
It hugs its many layers,
saying, O, O, O,
each vowel smaller
than the last.

Some say it has no heart.
It doesn't need one.
It surrounds itself,
feels whole. Primordial.
First among vegetables.

If Eve had bitten it
instead of the apple,
how different
Paradise.