» Poet Laureate Biography - Don Kerr

Don Kerr was born in Saskatoon where he still lives, having surrounded Broadway Avenue for a lifetime. He taught English at the University of Saskatchewan for forty years, specializing in classes of drama and film. He and his wife Mildred have three sons, David, Robert, William, two of whom have careers in theater. Two other cities have been important to him, London, England, where he went on sabbaticals and has lived five years there, and Vancouver, visited once or twice a year because of family and friends. He and his wife had their 50th wedding anniversary there in the summer of 2010.

Don Kerr began publishing poetry in journals in the 1960s and had his first book of poems published in 1971. He has eight books of poetry published, the most recent The Dust of Just Beginning, 2010. He has had five plays produced, at 25th Street Theater, the Drama Department, the Roxy Theater and most recently at Persephone Theater, 2006, Toon Town, The Saskatoon Musical, with Angie Tysseland. He has also written plays for the Fringe and for CBC radio.

He has written a collection of short stories, Love and the Bottle, and one teen novel, Candy on the Edge.

He has written three non-fiction books: Saskatoon, the First Half Century, with Stan Hanson; The Garden of Art on Regina artist Vic Cicansky; andA Book in Every Hand, a history of the Saskatchewan Public Libraries. He is currently at work on a Winnipeg artist, Don Proch, and is always working on poetry manuscripts.

Kerr has served on many organizations dedicated to culture and the arts: the Saskatoon Public Library Board and chair for five years; the Saskatchewan Arts Board; SaskFilm, and most recently on the Saskatchewan Arts Alliance. He was for ten years an editor  with Grain, was an editor of the NeWest Review for five years. He was a member of Coteau Books for fifteen years and remains on NeWest Press, for over thirty years now.

Kerr has been active in heritage for thirty years, was the first chair of the Saskatoon Heritage Society and the Municipal Heritage Society, was for six years a member of the board of the Heritage Canada Foundation, and still edits The Saskatoon History Review.

He was awarded a Public Service and Extension Award, at the University Fall Convocation in 2003, and was awarded a Saskatchewan Order of Merit in 2007.