A Toronto-born writer now living in Montreal has been named Canada's new poet laureate.

John Steffler will replace Pauline Michel, who completed her two-year tenure last month.

John Steffler said he will 'act as an advocate for writing across the country.'
(Susan Gillis/Library of Parliament)

"As an award-winning poet and fiction writer, Mr. Steffler has been a highly regarded ambassador of Canadian writing for many years," Speaker of the Senate, Noël Kinsella, said Monday in making the announcement. 

"His career-long interest in the interaction between people and the places they inhabit will lead to some insightful poetic reflections on the Canadian experience." 

Steffler, 59, becomes the third poet to hold the largely ceremonial office since its inception four years ago. He will get an office on Parliament Hill and $13,000 a year over his two-year tenure.

Steffler told CBC News that he wants to use his new post to stimulate Canadians' interest in literature, and will try to continue his predecessors' practice of maintaining a poem of the week on the poet laureate's website.

Having a Canadian poet laureate position "signals the Parliament's belief in and commitment to literature in Canada," he said. "It raises the profile of literature a bit and I'll certainly try to use the position as an advocate for writing and literature in general in Canada, especially poetry, and keep writing myself."

Steffler was selected by Kinsella and Commons Speaker Peter Milliken from a list of three finalists culled from an open call for nominations in March 2006.

Award-winning novelist

Born in Toronto, Steffler holds an BA in English from the University of Toronto, and a master's degree in English from the University of Guelph. He has taught at Guelph and, most recently, at Memorial University's Sir Wilfred Grenfell College in Corner Brook, N.L.

"Mr. Steffler has spent a good part of his career teaching others about his craft," Milliken said. "I welcome his appointment to a position that seeks to enhance Canadians' appreciation of the value of poetry in our society."

Steffler's books of poems include That Night We Were Ravenous, The Wreckage of Play and The Grey Islands. A novel, The Afterlife of George Cartwright, was shortlisted for the 1992 Governor General's Award for fiction and won the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction award.

Steffler, now retired, lives in Montreal.

The poet laureate's duties include composing poetry, especially for use in Parliament on special occasions, sponsoring poetry readings and advising the Parliamentary librarian on the library's collection and acquisitions to enrich the collection's cultural holdings.

"They say, so far, that there is no requirement to write things on demand for the government. They're just so happy with whatever you produce as a poet," Steffler told CBC News. "But I'm certainly going to try to go beyond that and act as an advocate for writing across the country."