I believe poets by nature are solitary creatures and that adversity is the mother of inventiveness and productivity. 

When friends who had taken the 401 urged me to follow, promising golden opportunities anywhere but here, I dug in my heels.  My parents fled eastern Europe, then abandoned Europe all together for a better life in North America.  Perhaps in reaction to their approach as much as to the bullying tactics of the PQ, I chose to stay.  I believe those of us who did, who had to struggle to be heard, who had to be inventive in carving out a piece of territory for ourselves, have come out ahead.   So in that respect, being outside the mainstream has fuelled our work. 

While I was writing, I had no desires but to write but when I began looking at getting published, finding community and grants, I realized how small the pool is here.  Perhaps, I was also hindered by an entrenched belief that as an Anglophone, I had very limited choices within Quebec.  But isn’t that the plight of a minority.  Am I angry? No.  I could change my minority status by moving somewhere else.  Do I think the government should do more?  Maybe.  Am I content with my lot?  If I was, would I still be a poet?

www.ginaroitman.com

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2010 has been a year of milestones for Quebec.

It has been:

50 years since the Quiet Revolution
40 years since the October Crisis
30 years since the first referendum on Quebec sovereignty
20 years since the failed Meech Lake Accord
15 years since the second referendum on Quebec sovereignty 

Poetry Quebec would like to know whether the social, political and/or cultural changes that have impacted on Quebec over the past few decades have been advantageous or detrimental to your practice as an English language poet in the province. Has it fuelled your work? Has it fuelled your ire? Have the changes created a divisive atmosphere among the English and French language poets in the province? Are you comfortable/satisfied/disappointed with the grant and festival opportunities for English language poets here? Do you believe there is equity for English and French language poets in Quebec? What are your views on the importance of developing a collaborative writing (or professional) relationship with our French language counterparts?

Poetry Quebec welcomes your personal experiences, reflections, observations, rants and/or opinions about working as a minority within the larger francophone majority.