2. Contributors
  3. Whipple, George

George Whipple
1927-2014

George Whipple was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, on 24 May 1927 and grew up in Toronto, Ontario. After attending Vancouver Teachers College in 1952, he returned to Toronto and worked for more than thirty years as a postal and records clerk at Toronto’s City Hall. In 1985, he moved to Burnaby, British Columbia, where he resided until his death on 29 May 2014.  Whipple had published eleven books of poetry including Life Cycle: Selected Poems (1984), Passing Through Eden (1991), Hats Off to the Sun (1996), and Carousel: Poems and Pictures (1999). His selected works, Tom Thomson and Other Poems (2000) soon followed. He published Origins (2002), Fanfares (2003), Footprints on the Water (2005), The Peaceable Kingdom (2006), Kite (2007), and Swim Class and Other Poems (2008). As an illustrator, Whipple had collaborated on Ralph O. Cunningham’s collection, Schwanengesang, and had designed several of his own book covers.  In 2007, Whipple received a best book prize for The Peaceable Kingdom from The Word Guild Canadian Christian Writing Awards. As a translator, Whipple introduced poems by Jules Laforgue, Gerard de Nerval, Françis Jammes, Paul Valéry, Rene Guy Gadau, and Gilles Vigneault to an English audience. Whipple's work has also appeared in various anthologies such as Raymond Souster’s Poets 56: The Younger English-Canadians (1956) and in spiritually-based collections such as Poetry and Spiritual Practice, Northern Lights: An Anthology of Contemporary Christian Writing (2008), Jailbreaks and Re-Creations: 99 Canadian Sonnets (2008), and Songs From the North: Inspirational Poems by 20 Canadians (1989). His work has also been included in two poetry textbooks, Susan Ioannou’s A Magical Clockwork (2000) and Michael Bugeja’s The Art and Craft of Poetry (2001).

Source

Armstrong, Tammy. "George Whipple." New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Spring 2009. Accessed 5 July 2023.

Predominant New Brunswick Residences:

Saint John

Archival Material

  • Location
    Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto
    View Archival Record
    Retrieval Number
    MS COLL 00468
    Date Range of Material
    1956-2012
    Extent

    10 boxes and items (1.5 metres)

    Scope and Content Note

    Collection includes material related to the complete work and life of Toronto poet George Whipple.

George Whipple with hands folded and wearing hat

George Whipple

Credit

Whipple, George. Author photo. Passing Through Eden via New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia, Spring 2009. Accessed 5 July 2023.

See the New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia entry.

Bibliography Items

Displaying 1 - 1 of 1
Whipple, George. Tom Thomson, and other poems. Manotick, ON: Penumbra Press, 2000, 144 pp.. [ book ]
Collection(s): NB Authors' Archival Papers project