Generally, a poet laureate’s main role is to serve as a literary ambassador, an advocate for poetry, language and the arts. A few are required to write poems for special occasions, but that is not the general rule. Rather the poet is supposed to concentrate on their own work and share that with their community. Often a poet laureate will create a legacy project during their term.
The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television.
The League of Canadian Poets
: Canada's national organization serving professionally published and practising poets; Includes links to "Poetry Spoken Here," a listing of poetry readings.
Spoken Word Arts Network (SWAN)
: with an ever-increasing database of spoken word artists with a goal of furthering the development of Spoken Word in Canada and internationally
Arc Poetry Magazine
: Extensive resources at the Arc Magazine poetry site, including Portage, “a routes map to the poetry ecosystem, as spied in Canada and elsewhere around the world.”
Canadian Conference of the Arts
: represents 200,000 cultural workers, and has some very valuable tax advice. The Canadian Conference of the Arts is Canada's oldest and largest arts advocacy group. Founded in 1945 by the leading artists of the day, the CCA was created to impress upon governments and the general public the importance of the arts and cultural industries in Canadian society. The CCA is an independent, non-partisan organization and a registered charity. Online you will find a guide to the CCA's international activities, its national political activities, including submissions on New Media, Finance, and Cultural policy, valuable tax primers for artists and writers, and more.
Canadian Federation of Poets
: Exists to unite international communities and artists in the celebration of all that is important to us as poets and as people living in an ever-changing world.
PEN Canada
: One of 144 centres of International PEN in 102 countries, is a literary and human rights association formed in 1926 to protect everyone's right to freedom of expression.
Writers Foundation LLC
: Writers Foundation LLC was created to inspire, inform and educate. A place to share, reflect and review. Writers Foundation is dedicated to spreading the world of poetry to everyone.
Youth Poetry
: The place for young poets and their teachers, includes an ezine, poetry contests, workshops, mentoring, interviews. Hosted by The League of Canadian Poets.
Poetry Forums
Owen Sound Sun Times
: The Sun Times has created an online poetry forum for 2007-2008.
Poetry Maps
World Poetry Map
: featuring oral and written poetry traditions from the world’s endangered and contested languages.
US National Poetry Map
: hosted by the Academy of American poets to foster local poetry communities
