| Guest of the ilb 2001
Greg Gatenby was born in Toronto, Canada in 1950. He has published several books of poetry, but is perhaps better known as an author for a) his two anthologies about dolphins and whales in art, music and literature, b) for his further two books examining how foreign writers have written about Canada, and c) for his acclaimed 'Toronto: A Literary Guide'.
In addition to his work as a writer, Greg Gatenby is the Artistic director of the Harbourfront Reading Series, a post he assumed shortly after the inception of the program in 1974. Under his directorship, the program has featured readings and talks by more than 4000 authors – including twelve Nobel laureates – from more than 90 nations. The program – and Gatenby – have received major profiles in the world’s leading press outlets. 'Time Magazine', for example, declared that he, more than anyone else in the city, had helped to make Toronto one of the literary capitals of the northern hemisphere. The 'L.A. Times' described his program as the "Olympics of world literature".
In 1989 Greg Gatenby was given the City of Toronto Literary Award, an honour conferred annually upon a person who as made an outstanding contribution to Toronto letters. Previous winners of the Prize were Margaret Atwood and Michael Ondaatje. In 1991 he was made an Honorary Lifetime Member of the League of Canadian Poets. And in the year 2000 he was named to the Order of Canada, the highest honour conferred on civilians in his home and native land.
Since the late 1970s, Greg Gatenby has been an outspoken advocate for writers, and for freedom of expression. He was one of the five founding members of the reconstituted PEN Canadian Centre, and one of the four principal organizers of the PEN World congress in Toronto in 1989. He also served on the reconstituted board of the Writers Development Trust, helping that organisation find its feet and re-establish itself as one of the leading literary organisations in the country. For two years he hosted a television book-show for TV-Ontario, and for some years was the chief book reviewer of the flagship arts program of CBC Radio.
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