Poetry in the Schools
Welcome to Poetry in the Schools, a partnership between the Poet Laureate and the Vancouver School Board. Our team of poets are visiting classes throughout Vancouver to spread the joy of poetry. If you are a teacher with the VSB and you would like to have a poet visit your class then please contact Brad Cran poetlaureate[at]vancouver.ca
Our 2009/2010 team includes:
Robert Heidbreder
For 30 years (yikes!), Robert Heidbreder taught primary children, K-3, in Vancouver. His first poetry book, Don’t Eat Spiders, appeared in 1985 and his latest book—his tenth—Crocodiles Play, was published in 2008. He has 3 more down the road, on the way. His writing grew out of his work with children and what they taught him about embracing the playfulness of language. In his presentations to primary children he introduces them to the lively language of poetry through chanting poems, writing group poems and moving to the rhythms of poetry.
William New
William New is the author and editor of over 40 books, including four books for children. Three of these books–Vanilla Gorilla, Llamas in the Laundry, and Dream Helmet–are collections of verse for 5-8-year-olds. They include nonsense rhymes, skipping and other play rhymes, game poems, and some more serious poems. The fourth book, The Year I Was Grounded, is aimed at 8-12-year-olds; loosely ‘ecological’ in its subject, it combines poems, verbal/visual puzzles, and a narrative that is told in diary form.
William New has also written 9 books of poetry for adult readers, as well as several critical studies of Canadian and Commonwealth literatures. A professor emeritus from the University of BC, he was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2006.
Gillian Jerome
Gillian Jerome’s first book of poems, Red Nest, has just been published by Nightwood Editions. Her book Verse! Poetry for Young Children was published by the University of Arizona’s Poetry Center and has helped teachers across North America get poetry into their classrooms. She lives in Vancouver with her husband and two children.
