It was recently announced that for the next four years George Murray will serve as the third poet laureate to the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.

He's previously published six poetry collections, including two with LPG member ECW Press -- Whiteout and Glimpse: Selected Aphorisms. This spring saw the publication of his first children's picture book, Wow Wow and Haw Haw, published by LPG member Breakwater Books with artwork by Michael Pittman.

We look forward to hearing George read at our National Poetry Month Showcase in St. John's on April 22nd at The Ship Pub in St. John's.

April is National Poetry Mont (in case you missed that news!) and with it comes the announcement of the shortlists for some of the top poetry awards in the country. The League of Canadian Poets recently announced the shortlists for the 2014 Raymond Souster, Gerald Lampert, and Pat Lowther Memorial Awards.

Our congratulations go out to many of our members and their poets:

Biblioasis for Meeting the Tormentors in Safeway by Alexandra Oliver (Pat Lowther Memorial Award)

BookThug for Light Light by Julie Joosten (Gerald Lampert Memorial Award)

Gaspereau Press for Brilliant Falls by John Terpstra (Raymond Souster Award)

The West Coast Book Prize Society announced the nominees for this year's BC Book Prizes on March 12th. Spread out over seven awards, the BC Book Prizes highlight the best of BC books, published over the last year.

Several of our LPG member publishers walked away with nominations for this year's awards:

Anvil Press for Everything Rustles by Jane Silcott for the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize; Wood by Jennica Harper for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize; and This Day in Vancouver by Jesse Donaldson for the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award