Winner of the Toronto Book Award

One Book Toronto — 2009

Like a sculptor finding the image trapped within the stone he carves, Glen Downie shapes shards of history and humanity into arresting poetry in Loyalty Management. Moving from the streets of Toronto, to the joys of fatherhood, to Chile's "serrated edge"; Downie's polished poems reveal hard truths, as well as moments of tenderness and wonder, with his abilities bounded only by the fragment of humanity to which he has turned his poet's pen. This is a formidable collection from an established Toronto poet.

Glen Downie worked in cancer care in Vancouver for many years, and now lives in Toronto (and at www.glendownie.com). He served a term as Writer-in-Residence at Dalhousie University's Medical Humanities Program, and won the Toronto Book Award for his 2007 Loyalty Management. He has letterpress-printed signed broadsides by Canadian and American poets (available through www.talltreepress.com). His most recent collection is Democratic Beauties, published by Tightrope Books.

Glen Downie's profile page

"Each word and phrase is chosen with care, with wit and to great effect. In a world where everything is point and click, Downie makes you sit and contemplate." - Toronto Public Library

"The fidelity of the telling is such that we can trust Downie to poetically forge these bonds, and sometimes break them, in lines that are spare and breath-aware." - Arc Poetry Magaznie 60: The Dog-eared Issue

"Hope lies in cherishing small moments and individuality, not in surrendering control of our lives to big business and big government." - The Toronto Star