Moths That Drink the Tears of Sleeping Birds is a book of poems and short prose pieces inspired by the life and times of author John B. Lee's mother Lillian Irene Lee nee Busteed, (1925—2018). One of three daughters born on a farm in Kent County a short distance from Mull Crossing, John B. Lee's mother grew up with one very simple dream: she longed to fall in love, and marry a farmer. Her dream realized she married John's father George and lived the life of a farmer's wife. The mother of two children, she was widowed in 2004 and then she began to show signs of dementia a few short years after her husband's passing. The title of the book is inspired by a comment she made to her son when she saw the image of a blue butterfly on the wall of the nursing home, "is there such a thing as a blue butterfly, I've never seen one, have you?"

In 2005 John B. Lee was inducted as Poet Laureate of Brantford in perpetuity. In 2011 he was appointed Poet Laureate of Norfolk County (2011-14) and in 2015 Honourary Poet Laureate of Norfolk County for life and in 2017 he received a Canada 150 Medal from the Federal Government of Canada for “his outstanding contribution to literary development both at home and abroad.” A recipient of over eighty prestigious international awards for his writing, he is winner of the $10,000 CBC Literary Award for Poetry, the only two time recipient of the People’s Poetry Award, and 2006 winner of the inaugural Souwesto Orison Writing Award (University of Windsor). He has well-over seventy books published to date and is the editor of seven anthologies including two best-selling works: That Sign of Perfection: poems and stories on the game of hockey; and Smaller Than God: words of spiritual longing. His work has appeared internationally in over 500 publications, and has been translated into French, Spanish, Korean and Chinese. He has read his work in nations all over the world including South Africa, France, Korea, Cuba, Canada and the United States. He has received letters of praise from Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu, Australian Poet, Les Murray, and Senator Romeo Dallaire. Called “the greatest living poet in English,” by poet George Whipple, he lives in Port Dover, Ontario where he works as a full time author.

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