65 YEARS+ of Writing, Performing and Publishing
|
Poet, performer and playwright Penn Kemp has been celebrated as a trailblazer since her first publication of poetry by Coach House (1972), a “poetic El Niño”, and a “one-woman literary industry”. The League of Canadian Poets has honored her with the Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award (2025), as Spoken Word Artist of the year (2015), as a foremother of Canadian Poetry, and Life Member. Penn has long been a keen participant/activist in Canada’s cultural life, with more than thirty books of poetry, prose and drama; seven plays and ten CDs produced as well as award-winning videopoems. She was London's inaugural Poet Laureate (2010-13) and Western University’s Writer-in-Residence (2009-10). Her project was the DVD, Luminous Entrance: A Sound Opera for Climate Change Action, performed at Aeolian Hall, London. Her other Sound Operas have been performed there and at venues across Canada. She has been writer-in-residence at universities throughout India and Brazil with her work widely translated. Her “poem for peace in many voices”, for instance, is out in 136 languages. Her many collaborations with artists are up on Youtube and River Revery. Out now is POEMS IN RESPONSE TO PERIL, an anthology for Ukraine. Penn’s sound poetry, INCREMENTALLY, is up as e-book and album. New collections in 2026 are available through Silver Bow Publishing and above/ground press. Penn is active across the web on her website; on Facebook, X, and Instagram; on her blog; on Substack; and on Soundcloud.
Over a career spanning more than six decades, London ON poet Penn Kemp has done it all: poetry in both voice and print, editing anthologies, publishing, mentoring countless young writers, writing for theatre and sound operas, extensive collaborative and community engagements, and promoting poetry in all its forms. As important as her poetry, and integral to it, is her activism and commitment to social justice. Translated into multiple languages and performed around the world, Penn’s poetry addresses peace and justice, environmental activism, domestic violence and a range of other social and political concerns. With books and multi-media projects published as early as 1972 and as recent as, well, yesterday, Penn is more than deserving of this celebration of a lifetime very full of achievement. On winning the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award, Penn writes: To be the inaugural winner of the League's new Lifetime Achievement Award is a profound honour, given the wealth of senior poets across Canada. Throughout sixty years of writing and publishing, poetry has been my lifeline. But there is so much more to explore! At eighty, I feel at the beginning of all that poetry can offer... I still stare daily at the blank page until words unfurl. In accepting this award, I'd also like to pay tribute to our elder poets, for whom this ongoing award is so pertinent. A deep bow to the League for supporting poetry in Canada over the decades, and on. Insomniac Press published her collection, River Revery in conjunction with her collaboration of poetry films up now on https://riverrevery.ca. Poetry books include Local Heroes (Insomniac) and Fox Haunts (Aeolus House). Recent plays have been performed and published, celebrating London Ontario's local hero, Teresa Harris: https://teresaharrisdreamlife.wordpress.com/. Quattro Books has published her poetry, Barbaric Cultural Practice, and an anthology, Jack Layton: Art in Action. See also https://soundcloud.com/penn-kemp and www.canpoetry.library.utoronto.ca/kemp. Penn Kemp is an inaugural recipient among fifteen honourees in London North Centre Honour Roll, 2017. She received the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal for service to arts and culture in London. Her latest play, The Triumph of Teresa Harris, was produced at London’s Palace Theatre in 2017. Other recent works are Barbaric Cultural Practice (Quattro, 2016); Dream Sequins (Lyrical Myrical Press); and Jack Layton Art in Action, edited for Quattro Books, Toronto. The League of Canadian Poets acclaimed her as Spoken Word Artist, 2015, an award for lifetime achievement. She is their 40th Life Member. |
Coach House Press published Penn’s first poetry book, Bearing Down, in 1972. She then edited IS 14, the first anthology of women’s poetry in Canada, in 1973, also for Coach House. Since then, Penn has published twenty-six books and had seven plays and ten spoken word CDs produced, as well as award-winning videopoems. Penn is prolific in many genres. Her “poem for peace in many voices” has been translated into 136 languages and performed by more than 3,000 around the world.
Penn has been giving creativity workshops, teaching and performing her poetry since graduating from Western University in 1966. Penn chaired a panel on Women & Performance for the Writers’ Summit at Harbourfront in June, 2016 where the two anthologies she edited were launched: Performing Women and Women and Multimedia. The scripts for her plays are available on www.playwrightsguild.ca/playwright/penn-kemp.
As inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of London, Penn presented poetry at many civic functions. For seven years, she hosted an eclectic literary show at Western called Gathering Voices. She has happily promoted London’s literary life as a panelist for London Reads, on stage and in print. Penn’s poem dedicated to our local skating heroes Virtue and Moir was awarded Poetry London’s second prize and distributed for National Poetry Month 2015 throughout London Libraries. Open Book Ontario features her article on London’s literary scene. For the last three years, she has mentored students as a partner in Community Engaged Learning at Western.
Throughout her literary life, she has worked collaboratively with other artists, often in theatre and participatory performances across a variety of cultural practices to engage her audience. Many of her CDs are what Penn terms "Sound Operas": dramatic poetic narratives that weave sound, imagery and music in the counterpoint of many voices. Penn has been heralded by the Writers’ Union as a “one woman literary industry” and by the League of Canadian Poets as “one of ten foremothers of Canadian poetry”. Having performed in festivals around the world, in Britain, Brazil and India, Penn happily returned to live in London in 2001 and has been active in the arts community here. Penn edits poetry for Pendas Productions, a small publishing company she runs with her husband, Gavin Stairs: they have published volumes of poetry and CDs.
EDUCATION
M.Ed., Dept. of History and Philosophy, O.I.S.E., U. of Toronto 1988
Ontario Teacher's Certificate, Althouse College, Western University (Type A) 1967
BA (Hon.) University of Western Ontario, Honours English Language & Literature 1966
Penn has been giving creativity workshops, teaching and performing her poetry since graduating from Western University in 1966. Penn chaired a panel on Women & Performance for the Writers’ Summit at Harbourfront in June, 2016 where the two anthologies she edited were launched: Performing Women and Women and Multimedia. The scripts for her plays are available on www.playwrightsguild.ca/playwright/penn-kemp.
As inaugural Poet Laureate for the City of London, Penn presented poetry at many civic functions. For seven years, she hosted an eclectic literary show at Western called Gathering Voices. She has happily promoted London’s literary life as a panelist for London Reads, on stage and in print. Penn’s poem dedicated to our local skating heroes Virtue and Moir was awarded Poetry London’s second prize and distributed for National Poetry Month 2015 throughout London Libraries. Open Book Ontario features her article on London’s literary scene. For the last three years, she has mentored students as a partner in Community Engaged Learning at Western.
Throughout her literary life, she has worked collaboratively with other artists, often in theatre and participatory performances across a variety of cultural practices to engage her audience. Many of her CDs are what Penn terms "Sound Operas": dramatic poetic narratives that weave sound, imagery and music in the counterpoint of many voices. Penn has been heralded by the Writers’ Union as a “one woman literary industry” and by the League of Canadian Poets as “one of ten foremothers of Canadian poetry”. Having performed in festivals around the world, in Britain, Brazil and India, Penn happily returned to live in London in 2001 and has been active in the arts community here. Penn edits poetry for Pendas Productions, a small publishing company she runs with her husband, Gavin Stairs: they have published volumes of poetry and CDs.
EDUCATION
M.Ed., Dept. of History and Philosophy, O.I.S.E., U. of Toronto 1988
Ontario Teacher's Certificate, Althouse College, Western University (Type A) 1967
BA (Hon.) University of Western Ontario, Honours English Language & Literature 1966
