Deahl, James
Biography
James Deahl was born in Pittsburgh in 1945 and grew up among the hills and rivers of Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. "A former steelworker and miner, Deahl provides a poetic history when he describes Pittsburgh, the mills of the Monongahela Valley and the abandoned coal mining regions of West Virginia." (Frances McCue PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE) He has spent almost his entire adult life in Ontario, having moved here in 1970, and moved to Hamilton in the early 1990's where he now says he feels perfectly at home. "In his precise articulations of landscape, we get such a highly charged evocation of place--be it a steel town or the Appalachians--that it is as if the reader were the first person to stand there." (Sandra Nicholls BOOKS IN CANADA) James Deahl has served as President and Past President of the Canadian Poetry Association and is involved in many literary groups in the Hamilton area including the Literary Committee of the Hamilton and Region Arts Council. His guide, Poetry Markets For Canadians, is an invaluable source for poets who are seeking to get their poems published. He has authored and edited numerous books including the unpublished poetry of the late Milton Acorn on whom he is an authority. In his Introduction to The Uncollected Acorn Deahl writes: "Almost all the poems ...come from the Acorn papers at Public Archives Canada and from the 163 poems that he had given to me over the years...Often, as the sun set over the Ottawa River, I would look out to the lights of Hull and it would seem as if Milton were there in the room...puffing a cigar and smiling into the twilight." James Deahl is the father of three daughters, Sarah, Simone, and Shona, and is married to Canadian artist Gilda Mekler. Together they operate Mekler & Deahl, Publishers. A Cliff Runs Through It and Ingots are two recent anthologies of local area poets, edited by Jeff Seffinga and produced by Mekler & Deahl Publishers which exemplify their strong belief in the need to establish a sense of place.
Awards/Recognitions
Mainichi Award (first place), 1985
Hamilton and Region Arts Council Book Award in the Poetry Category, 1995 for TASTING THE WINTER GRAPES.
Other Information
Related Websites and Blogs
Published Work
2001. When Rivers Speak.. Pittsburgh : UnMon America. (Poetry)
1999. Blackbirds: War Poems. Hamilton: UnMon Northland. (Poetry)
1996. [editor] Mix Six: Six Ontario Poets. Hamilton: Miklar & Deahl. (Poetry)
1995. Under the Watchful Eye: Poetry and Discourse. Fredericton: Broken Jaw Press. (Poetry)
1993. Even This Land Was Born of Light. Goderich, Ont.: Moonstone Press. (Poetry)
1993. Tasting the Winter Grapes. Newport: Envoi Poets. (Poetry)
1993. Heartland. Newport: Envoi Poets. (Poetry)
1992. Opening the Stone Heart. Newport: Envoi Poets. (Poetry)
1988. [editor] Hundred Proof Earth by Milton Acorn. Toronto: Aya Press. (Poetry)
1987. [editor] The Northern Red Oak: Poems For and About Milton Acorn. Toronto : Unfinished Monument Press. (Poetry)
1987. [editor] The Uncollected Acorn by Milton Acorn. Toronto: Deneau Press. (Poetry)
1985. Blue Ridge. Toronto: Aureole Point Press. (Poetry)
1984. No Cold Ash. Victoria: Sono Nis Press. (Poetry)
1982. In the Lost Horn’s Call. Toronto: Aureole Press. (Poetry)
