Niagara Falls
Poetry Project
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Niagara Falls Poetry Project |
Writings about Niagara Falls has a long history -
the first mention is in Samuel de Champlain's descriptive writings of 1604 (even
though he never saw the Falls), which also includes the first reference to
Niagara Falls in a poem. Since then, travel writings, poems, plays, songs, and
novels have all been written about the Falls. The literature of Niagara Falls is the focus of an
upcoming television episode of "Imprint", airing on TVOntario at 11 p.m.
December 13 and repeated Dec. 18 and 19 at 3:30pm and Dec. 20 at 2pm.
Governor-General Award winning author Jane
Urquhart, author of "The
Whirlpool" amongst other books, will discuss the
literature of the Falls from a novelist's perspective. Linda Revie, lecturer at
the University of Guelph and author of
"The Niagara Companion: Explorers,
Artists, and Writers at the Falls, From Discovery Through the Twentieth Century"
will discuss the early travel writings of Niagara. In addition, our own Andrew
Porteus, Manager of Adult Reference and Information Services and compiler of the
Niagara Falls Poetry Project (www.niagarapoetry.ca)
will discuss the poetry of Niagara Falls. On the Niagara Falls Poetry Project website are
over 500 poems about the Falls. Many of these were collected from books in the
library, while others have been tracked down in magazines and other materials
not owned by the library. This makes it a unique resource of the social,
cultural, and literary history of Niagara Falls. The Project was undertaken because Porteus realized
that many of these poems were buried in other works, such as engineering
conference proceedings, and may never be available unless a dedicated effort was
made to bring them to light. Poetry books of Niagara Falls available to borrow
include "Queen of the
Mist" by Joan Murray,
"Torrente Prodigioso: A Cuban Poet at
Niagara Falls" with the writings of Jose Maria Heredia, and
"The Poetry of Old
Niagara" compiled by Kevin McCabe. Novels about the Falls include Tom Marshall's "Voices on the Brink: a Border Tale", Joyce Carol Oates' "The Falls: A Novel," and "Niagara" by Robert Lewis Taylor.
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