15 Facts About Phyllis Webb

Phyllis Webb was a Canadian poet and broadcaster.

Phyllis Webb left the CBC in 1967 to return to British Columbia, where she remained for much of her life.

Phyllis Webb was born on April 8,1927, in Victoria, British Columbia.

Phyllis Webb attended the University of British Columbia, where she received a BA in English and philosophy in 1949, and McGill University.

In 1957 Phyllis Webb won a grant that allowed her to study theatre in France.

Phyllis Webb's approach shifted in the 1960s toward a model of poetry influenced by the field theory of composition developed by Charles Olson and the Black Mountain poets.

Phyllis Webb composed the poems in Hanging Fire by waiting for words to arrive in her mind.

Phyllis Webb said in an interview that adopting this passive stance allowed her to focus more on the external world.

Phyllis Webb taught creative writing at the University of British Columbia, the University of Victoria, and the Banff Centre, and was writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta from 1980 to 1981.

Also in 1967, Phyllis Webb created the CBC television program Extension, a series about Canadian poetry.

In 1980 Phyllis Webb was awarded a prize of CA$2,300 by fellow Canadian poets in recognition of her book Wilson's Bowl, which was overlooked for a Governor General's Award nomination that year.

Phyllis Webb won the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry, 1982, for The Vision Tree.

Phyllis Webb won Canada Council awards in 1981 and 1987.

Phyllis Webb became an officer of the Order of Canada in 1992.

Phyllis Webb died at Lady Minto Hospital on Salt Spring Island on November 11,2021.