Barry Dempster

Barry Edward Dempster (born 17 January 1952) is a Canadian poet, novelist,and editor.

Barry Dempster was born in Toronto, Ontario, and educated in child psychology. He is the author of a novel, a children's book, two volumes of short stories and fourteen collections of poetry. He has been nominated for the Governor General's Award for literature twice, for his first book, Fables for Isolated Men (Guernica), and most recently for The Burning Alphabet (Brick Books) which won the Canadian Authors Association Chalmers Award for poetry. In 2010 he was a finalist for the Ontario Premier's Award of Excellence in the Arts. From 1990 to 1997, he was Poetry and Reviews Editor for Poetry Canada. He is the senior acquisitions editor with Brick Books, where he has discovered and edited many of Canada's finest emerging poets and many of Canada's best poets. He has been on the faculty at The Banff Centre as mentor for the Writing Studio, Wired Writing and Writing with Styles programs and has been the Writer-in-Residence at the Richmond Hill Public Library twice. A new novel "The Outside World" will be published in December 2013.

Dempster's prose was first noticed by renowned editor and writer, John Metcalf, for his anthology Third Impressions (Oberon Press) in which Metcalf showcased three promising young authors. A contract from Oberon Press soon followed for the publication of two collections of highly praised short stories. Quarry Press came forward with an offer to publish his first novel, The Ascension of Jesse Rapture, which also received excellent reviews.

Dempster's editing career began as one of the founding editors of Poetry Canada Review which quickly became one of Canada's most esteemed literary magazines. For over 10 years, he was the mainstay of the publication in the role of Reviews Editor and then Poetry and Reviews Editor, as it changed ownership and staff. During this time, Dempster became known for his helpful, supportive letters to submitting writers, his astute book reviews and his "New Voice" discoveries of some of Canada's finest poets.

In 1999, he was invited by poet and founder, Don McKay, to join the prestigious Brick Books as an Editor. Since then, he has edited 18 books, two of which garnered a Griffin Prize nomination and win, a Governor General's Award, and another which won the 2005 Trillium Book Award. In addition to working with upcoming and established authors, Dempster is the Senior Acquisitions Editor for Brick. Equally comfortable with poetry and prose, Dempster also has extensive experience as a creative writing instructor, having run hundreds of workshops in Ontario elementary schools and high schools, stints at the Upper Canada Writers' Workshop in Kingston, Ontario, the Banff Centre for the Arts, Sage Hill Saskatchewan, master classes in Santiago, Chile; Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia; Ottawa; Winnipeg; Hamilton; and Victoria, and as writer in residence at the Richmond Hill Public Library. Dempster currently lives in York Region where he runs a very popular film series "Southlake Cinemania," which has raised funds to support literacy through the arts.

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