P. K. Page
Encyclopedia
Patricia Kathleen Page, CC
, OBC
, FRSC
(November 23, 1916 – January 14, 2010), commonly known as P. K. Page, was a Canadian
poet
. She was the author of over 30 published books: of poetry, fiction, travel diaries, essays, children's books, and an autobiography.
By special resolution of the United Nations
, in 2001 Page's poem "Planet Earth" was read simultaneously in New York, the Antarctic
, and the South Pacific to celebrate the International Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations
.
She was also known as a visual artist, who exhibited her work as P.K. Irwin at a number of venues in and out of Canada. Her works are in permanent collections of National Gallery of Canada
and Art Gallery of Ontario
.
, Dorset
, England
and moved with her family to Canada in 1919. Page's parents moved her to Red Deer
, Alberta
in 1919, when she was only 3, and later to Calgary
and Winnipeg
. Page said her parents were creative, encouraging non-conformists who loved the arts, recited poetry and read to her. She credited her early interest in poetry to the rhythms she unconsciously imbibed as a child. A year in England when she was 17 opened her eyes to galleries, ballets and concerts.
Page "later moved to St. John, New Brunswick, where she worked as a shop assistant and radio actress during the late 1930s."
In 1941 Page moved to Montreal
and came into contact with the Montreal Group
of poets, which included A. M. Klein
and F. R. Scott
.
She became a founding member of Patrick Anderson's Preview magazine in 1942, and of its successor, Northern Review
, in 1945. Some of her poetry appeared in the modernist
anthology, Unit of Five, in 1944, along with poems by Louis Dudek
, Ronald Hambleton, Raymond Souster
, and James Wreford
.
In 1944 she published a romantic novel, The Sun and the Moon, under the pseudonym Judith Cape. (The novel was reprinted in 1973, along with some of her short stories from the 1940s, as The Sun and the Moon and Other Fictions.)
Later she became a scriptwriter at Canada's National Film Board, where she met W. Arthur Irwin, a former editor of Maclean's
magazine, whom she married in 1950. Following her marriage, "Page devoted her time to writing the poetry collection The Metal and the Flower (1954), for which she received a Governor General's Award
."
Page travelled with her husband on his diplomatic postings to Australia
, Brazil
, Mexico
and Guatemala
. In Brazil and Mexico, not hearing the rhythms of spoken English, she said, "I had a long dry spell, so I started painting and keeping a journal," published as Brazilian Journal and illustrated with her own paintings. She began writing poetry again following her return to Canada in the mid 1960s.
Her visual art, under her married name as P. K. Irwin, is in galleries and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada
in Ottawa
.
She spent the last years of her life in Victoria, British Columbia
.
Her early poems "were inward-looking, imaginary biographies," which "rely heavily on suggestive imagery and the detailed depiction of concrete situations to express social concerns and transcendental themes ... such poems as 'The Stenographers' and 'The Landlady' focus on isolated individuals who futilely search for meaning and a sense of belonging. 'Photos of a Salt Mine' considered one of Page's best early poems, examines how art both conceals and reveals reality"
Northrop Frye
wrote about her 1954 volume, The Metal and the Flower, that "if there is anything such as 'pure poetry,' this must be it: a lively mind seizing on almost any experience and turning it into witty verse.... Miss Page's work has a competent elegance about it that makes even the undistinguished poems still satisfying to look at."
Her later works showed "a new austerity in form and a reduction in the number of images presented." As well, there is a difference in type of image: "her later poems are often set abroad and suggest a path of liberation for the isolated, alienated individual.... Such poems as 'Bark Drawing' and 'Cook's Mountains' contain images outside the self as does 'Cry Ararat!' — a poem concerning the reconciliation of internal and external worlds, in which Mount Ararat symbolizes a place of rest [in] between."
Critic George Woodcock
has said that Page's "most recent poems are more sharply and intensely visual than ever in their sensuous evocation of shape and color and space; their imagery takes us magically beyond any ordinary seeing into a realm of imagining in which the normal world is shaken like a vast kaleidoscope and revealed in unexpected and luminous relationships."
for The Metal and the Flower, and the Canadian Authors Association Award in 1985 for The Glass Air.
In 1977 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
and was promoted to Companion of the Order in 1998.
B.C.
Lt. Gov.
Iona Campagnolo
awarded her the first Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence
in 2004, calling Page "a true Renaissance woman."
Page's poems have been translated into other languages. A symposium on her work, "Extraordinary Presence: The Worlds of P.K. Page", was held in 2002 at Trent University.
In 2006, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
. She held honourary degrees from University of Victoria
(1985), University of Calgary
(1989), University of Guelph
(1990), Simon Fraser University
(1990), University of Toronto
(1998), University of Winnipeg
(2001), Trent University
(2004) and the University of British Columbia
(2005).
Page was a "true Canadian literary and artistic icon," according to B.C. Premier
Gordon Campbell. "As an author, poet, teacher, scriptwriter and painter, P. K. Page was an extraordinary and varied force in promoting and developing Canadian culture. Her efforts helped to set the stage for decades of cultural growth in our nation.... It is the passion of people like Patricia that forged our country’s cultural and artistic identity."
Her last collection, Coal and Roses, was posthumously shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize
.
The National Film Board of Canada
dedicated a 38-minute documentary to her career (Still Waters, directed by Donald Winkler).
, said, "[Her] accomplishments have been an inspiration to several generations of writers," and declared that the award, called the P. K. Page Founders’ Award for Poetry, would formalize Page's "long association with the Malahat Review."
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, OBC
Order of British Columbia
The Order of British Columbia is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Instituted in 1989 by Lieutenant Governor David Lam, on the advice of the Cabinet under Premier Bill Vander Zalm, the order is administered by the Governor-in-Council and is intended to honour...
, FRSC
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
(November 23, 1916 – January 14, 2010), commonly known as P. K. Page, was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
. She was the author of over 30 published books: of poetry, fiction, travel diaries, essays, children's books, and an autobiography.
By special resolution of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, in 2001 Page's poem "Planet Earth" was read simultaneously in New York, the Antarctic
Antarctic
The Antarctic is the region around the Earth's South Pole, opposite the Arctic region around the North Pole. The Antarctic comprises the continent of Antarctica and the ice shelves, waters and island territories in the Southern Ocean situated south of the Antarctic Convergence...
, and the South Pacific to celebrate the International Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations
Dialogue Among Civilizations
Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami introduced the idea of Dialogue Among Civilizations as a response to Samuel P. Huntington’s theory of a Clash of Civilizations.-Introduction:...
.
She was also known as a visual artist, who exhibited her work as P.K. Irwin at a number of venues in and out of Canada. Her works are in permanent collections of National Gallery of Canada
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
and Art Gallery of Ontario
Art Gallery of Ontario
Under the direction of its CEO Matthew Teitelbaum, the AGO embarked on a $254 million redevelopment plan by architect Frank Gehry in 2004, called Transformation AGO. The new addition would require demolition of the 1992 Post-Modernist wing by Barton Myers and Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg...
.
Life
P.K. Page was born in SwanageSwanage
Swanage is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is situated at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck, approximately 10 km south of Poole and 40 km east of Dorchester. The parish has a population of 10,124 . Nearby are Ballard Down and Old Harry Rocks,...
, Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and moved with her family to Canada in 1919. Page's parents moved her to Red Deer
Red Deer, Alberta
Red Deer is a city in Central Alberta, Canada. It is located near the midpoint of the Calgary-Edmonton Corridor and is surrounded by Red Deer County. It is Alberta's third-most-populous city – after Calgary and Edmonton. The city is located in aspen parkland, a region of rolling hills...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
in 1919, when she was only 3, and later to Calgary
Calgary
Calgary is a city in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is located in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, approximately east of the front ranges of the Canadian Rockies...
and Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
. Page said her parents were creative, encouraging non-conformists who loved the arts, recited poetry and read to her. She credited her early interest in poetry to the rhythms she unconsciously imbibed as a child. A year in England when she was 17 opened her eyes to galleries, ballets and concerts.
Page "later moved to St. John, New Brunswick, where she worked as a shop assistant and radio actress during the late 1930s."
In 1941 Page moved to Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
and came into contact with the Montreal Group
Montreal Group
The Montreal Group was a circle of Canadian modernist writers formed in the mid-1920s at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, which included Leon Edel, John Glassco, A.M. Klein, Leo Kennedy, F.R. Scott, and A.J.M. Smith. Most of the group's members attended McGill as undergraduates. Due to this...
of poets, which included A. M. Klein
A. M. Klein
Abraham Moses Klein was a Canadian poet, journalist, novelist, short story writer, and lawyer. He has been called "One of Canada's greatest poets and a leading figure in Jewish-Canadian culture."...
and F. R. Scott
F. R. Scott
Francis Reginald Scott, CC commonly known as Frank Scott or F.R. Scott, was a Canadian poet, intellectual and constitutional expert. He helped found the first Canadian social democratic party, the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, and its successor, the New Democratic Party...
.
She became a founding member of Patrick Anderson's Preview magazine in 1942, and of its successor, Northern Review
Northern Review
Northern Review was a Montreal-based literary magazine published in Canada between 1945 and 1956. It resulted from the merger between two earlier magazines, Preview and First Statement, both of which were also Montreal-based. Poet and literary critic John Sutherland, who founded First Statement,...
, in 1945. Some of her poetry appeared in the modernist
Modernist poetry in English
Modernist poetry in English is generally considered to have emerged in the early years of the 20th century with the appearance of the Imagists. In common with many other modernists, these poets wrote in reaction to the perceived excesses of Victorian poetry, with its emphasis on traditional...
anthology, Unit of Five, in 1944, along with poems by Louis Dudek
Louis Dudek
Louis Dudek, OC was a Canadian poet, academic, and publisher known for his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and for his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books...
, Ronald Hambleton, Raymond Souster
Raymond Souster
Raymond Holmes Souster, OC is a Canadian poet whose writing career spans almost 70 years. He has published more than 50 volumes of his own verse, and edited or co-edited a dozen volumes of others' poetry...
, and James Wreford
James Wreford Watson
James Wreford Watson was a Scottish/Canadian geographer and cartographer, who served as Canada's Chief Geographer...
.
In 1944 she published a romantic novel, The Sun and the Moon, under the pseudonym Judith Cape. (The novel was reprinted in 1973, along with some of her short stories from the 1940s, as The Sun and the Moon and Other Fictions.)
Later she became a scriptwriter at Canada's National Film Board, where she met W. Arthur Irwin, a former editor of Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
magazine, whom she married in 1950. Following her marriage, "Page devoted her time to writing the poetry collection The Metal and the Flower (1954), for which she received a Governor General's Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
."
Page travelled with her husband on his diplomatic postings to Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and Guatemala
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
. In Brazil and Mexico, not hearing the rhythms of spoken English, she said, "I had a long dry spell, so I started painting and keeping a journal," published as Brazilian Journal and illustrated with her own paintings. She began writing poetry again following her return to Canada in the mid 1960s.
Her visual art, under her married name as P. K. Irwin, is in galleries and private collections, including the National Gallery of Canada
National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada , located in the capital city Ottawa, Ontario, is one of Canada's premier art galleries.The Gallery is now housed in a glass and granite building on Sussex Drive with a notable view of the Canadian Parliament buildings on Parliament Hill. The acclaimed structure was...
in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
.
She spent the last years of her life in Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
.
Writing
Page's career can be divided into two periods: the first being the 1940s and 1950s, and the second starting with her return to Canada in the 1960s.Her early poems "were inward-looking, imaginary biographies," which "rely heavily on suggestive imagery and the detailed depiction of concrete situations to express social concerns and transcendental themes ... such poems as 'The Stenographers' and 'The Landlady' focus on isolated individuals who futilely search for meaning and a sense of belonging. 'Photos of a Salt Mine' considered one of Page's best early poems, examines how art both conceals and reveals reality"
Northrop Frye
Northrop Frye
Herman Northrop Frye, was a Canadian literary critic and literary theorist, considered one of the most influential of the 20th century....
wrote about her 1954 volume, The Metal and the Flower, that "if there is anything such as 'pure poetry,' this must be it: a lively mind seizing on almost any experience and turning it into witty verse.... Miss Page's work has a competent elegance about it that makes even the undistinguished poems still satisfying to look at."
Her later works showed "a new austerity in form and a reduction in the number of images presented." As well, there is a difference in type of image: "her later poems are often set abroad and suggest a path of liberation for the isolated, alienated individual.... Such poems as 'Bark Drawing' and 'Cook's Mountains' contain images outside the self as does 'Cry Ararat!' — a poem concerning the reconciliation of internal and external worlds, in which Mount Ararat symbolizes a place of rest [in] between."
Critic George Woodcock
George Woodcock
George Woodcock was a Canadian writer of political biography and history, an anarchist thinker, an essayist and literary critic. He was also a poet, and published several volumes of travel writing. He founded in 1959 the journal Canadian Literature, the first academic journal specifically...
has said that Page's "most recent poems are more sharply and intensely visual than ever in their sensuous evocation of shape and color and space; their imagery takes us magically beyond any ordinary seeing into a realm of imagining in which the normal world is shaken like a vast kaleidoscope and revealed in unexpected and luminous relationships."
Recognition
Page won the Governor General's Award in 19541954 Governor General's Awards
In Canada, the 1954 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit were the eighteenth such awards. The awards in this period had no monetary prize but were an honour for the authors.-Winners:*Fiction: Igor Gouzenko, The Fall of a Titan....
for The Metal and the Flower, and the Canadian Authors Association Award in 1985 for The Glass Air.
In 1977 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
and was promoted to Companion of the Order in 1998.
B.C.
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
Lt. Gov.
Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia
The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia is the viceregal representative in British Columbia of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, who operates distinctly within the province but is also shared with equally the ten other jurisdictions of Canada and resides predominantly in her oldest...
Iona Campagnolo
Iona Campagnolo
Iona Campagnolo, is a Canadian politician, and was the first woman and 27th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia. Prior to becoming Lieutenant Governor she was a Canadian politician and cabinet member in the Liberal government of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.-Career:Born Iona Victoria Hardy...
awarded her the first Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence
Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence
The Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence is administered by the BC Book Prizes and recognizes a writer who has contributed significantly to the development of literary excellence in British Columbia, as well as having written a substantial body of literary work throughout his or her...
in 2004, calling Page "a true Renaissance woman."
Page's poems have been translated into other languages. A symposium on her work, "Extraordinary Presence: The Worlds of P.K. Page", was held in 2002 at Trent University.
In 2006, she was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
Royal Society of Canada
The Royal Society of Canada , may also operate under the more descriptive name RSC: The Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada , is the oldest association of scientists and scholars in Canada...
. She held honourary degrees from University of Victoria
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria, often referred to as UVic, is the second oldest public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It is a research intensive university located in Saanich and Oak Bay, about northeast of downtown Victoria. The University's annual enrollment is about 20,000 students...
(1985), University of Calgary
University of Calgary
The University of Calgary is a public research university located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1966 the U of C is composed of 14 faculties and more than 85 research institutes and centres.More than 25,000 undergraduate and 5,500 graduate students are currently...
(1989), University of Guelph
University of Guelph
The University of Guelph, also known as U of G, is a comprehensive public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College, the Macdonald Institute, and the Ontario Veterinary College...
(1990), Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University
Simon Fraser University is a Canadian public research university in British Columbia with its main campus on Burnaby Mountain in Burnaby, and satellite campuses in Vancouver and Surrey. The main campus in Burnaby, located from downtown Vancouver, was established in 1965 and has more than 34,000...
(1990), University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
(1998), University of Winnipeg
University of Winnipeg
The University of Winnipeg is a public university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada that offers undergraduate faculties of art, business and economics, education, science and theology as well as graduate programs. The U of W's founding colleges were Manitoba College and Wesley College, which merged...
(2001), Trent University
Trent University
Trent University is a liberal arts and science-oriented institution located along the Otonabee River in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.The enabling legislation is the Trent University Act, 1962-63. The University was founded through the efforts of a citizens' committee interested in creating a...
(2004) and the University of British Columbia
University of British Columbia
The University of British Columbia is a public research university. UBC’s two main campuses are situated in Vancouver and in Kelowna in the Okanagan Valley...
(2005).
Page was a "true Canadian literary and artistic icon," according to B.C. Premier
Premier of British Columbia
The Premier of British Columbia is the first minister, head of government, and de facto chief executive for the Canadian province of British Columbia. Until the early 1970s the title Prime Minister of British Columbia was often used...
Gordon Campbell. "As an author, poet, teacher, scriptwriter and painter, P. K. Page was an extraordinary and varied force in promoting and developing Canadian culture. Her efforts helped to set the stage for decades of cultural growth in our nation.... It is the passion of people like Patricia that forged our country’s cultural and artistic identity."
Her last collection, Coal and Roses, was posthumously shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize
Griffin Poetry Prize
The Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. The awards go to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language....
.
The National Film Board of Canada
National Film Board of Canada
The National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
dedicated a 38-minute documentary to her career (Still Waters, directed by Donald Winkler).
P. K. Page Founders’ Award for Poetry
A $1,000 poetry prize is awarded annually by the Malahat Review in Page's name. Its editor, Marilyn BoweringMarilyn Bowering
Marilyn Bowering is a Canadian poet, novelist and playwright. She was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, and currently lives in Sooke, British Columbia...
, said, "[Her] accomplishments have been an inspiration to several generations of writers," and declared that the award, called the P. K. Page Founders’ Award for Poetry, would formalize Page's "long association with the Malahat Review."
Poetry
- Unit of five: Louis Dudek, Ronald Hambleton, P.K. Page, Raymond Souster, James Wreford. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1944.
- As ten, as twenty. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1946.
- The Metal and the Flower. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1954.
- Cook's Mountains – 1967
- Cry Ararat!: poems new and selected. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1967.
- P.K. Page: Poems Selected and New. Toronto: Anansi, 1974. ISBN 0887841325
- Planes: poems. Toronto: Seripress, 1975 (with artist Doyle, Mike, 1928-). (limited edition of 50 numbered copies, signed by author and artist)
- Five Poems, Toronto: League of Canadian Poets, 1980.
- Evening Dance of the Grey Flies. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1981. ISBN 0195403819
- The Glass Air: poems selected and new. Toronto: Oxford University Press, (1985, 1991). ISBN 0195405064, ISBN 0195408403.
- Two Poems. Comox, B.C.: Nemo Press. 1988. (limited edition of 150 copies)
- Hologram: a Book of Glosas. London, Ont.: Brick Books, 1994. ISBN 0919626726 (contains poems: Hologram, The Gold Sun, Autumn, Poor Bird, Inebriate, In Memoriam, Presences, Planet Earth, Love's Pavilion, Alone, A Bagatelle, Exile, The Answer, The End)
- The Hidden Room, Vol. 1, Erin, Ont.: The Porcupine's Quill, 1997. ISBN 088984190X.
- The Hidden Room, Vol. 2, Erin, Ont.: The Porcupine's Quill, 1997. ISBN 0889841934
- And Once More Saw the Stars – 2001
- A Kind of Fiction – 2001
- Schizophrenic
- This Heavy Craft'
- Planet earth: poems selected and new. Edited, and with an introduction by Eric Ormsby. Erin, Ont. : Porcupine's Quill, 2002.
- Hand Luggage – 2006
- Coal and Roses – 2009 (shortlisted for the 2010 Canadian Griffin Poetry PrizeGriffin Poetry PrizeThe Griffin Poetry Prize is Canada's most generous poetry award. It was founded in 2000 by businessman and philanthropist Scott Griffin. The awards go to one Canadian and one international poet who writes in the English language....
) - The Golden Lilies, Poems by PK Page – 2009
- Cullen. Outlaw Editions, 2009.
Prose
- The Sun and the Moon [as Judith Cape] – 1944
- The Sun and the Moon and Other Fictions. Toronto: Anansi, 1973. ISBN 0887843271 (contents: The Sun and the Moon, The Neighbour, The Green Bird, The Woman, The Lord's Plan, Miracles, As One Remembers a Dream, George, The Glass Box)
- To Say the Least: Canadian Poets from A to Z. Toronto: Press Porcepic, 1979. ISBN 0888781741
- Brazilian Journal Toronto: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1988. ISBN 0886191661.
Children's books
- A Flask of Sea Water Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1989 (illustrated by Gal, Laszlo). ISBN 0195407040
- The Travelling Musicians. Toronto: Kids Can Press, 1991 (illustrated by Denton, Kady MacDonald). ISBN 1550740393 (adaptation of J. Grimm's (1785–1863) The musicians of Bremen (Bremer Stadtmusikanten))
- The Goat that Flew Victoria, B.C.: Beach Holme, 1994 (illustrated by Gal, Marika). ISBN 0888783345 (sequel to A Flask of Sea Water)
- A Grain of Sand (2003)
- A Brazilian Alphabet for the Young Reader (2005)
- Jake, the Baker, Makes a Cake (2008)
- The Old Woman and the Hen (2008)
- There Once Was a Camel (2008)
- The Sky Tree Oolichon Books, 2009.
See also
External links
- PKPage.ca:
- Griffin Poetry Prize biography
- Griffin Poetry Prize readings, including video clips
- Watch Still Waters: The Poetry of P.K. Page, a 1990 National Film Board of CanadaNational Film Board of CanadaThe National Film Board of Canada is Canada's twelve-time Academy Award-winning public film producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary, animation, alternative drama and digital media productions...
documentary - Canadian Poetry Online: P.K. Page - Biography and six poems (The After Rain, Autumn, This Heavy Craft, Deaf Mute in the Pear Tree, Single Traveller, Motel Pool)