Douglas Lochhead

Who was Douglas Lochhead?

Douglas Lochhead FRSC was a Canadian poet who lived in Sackville, New Brunswick, of which town he was the official poet laureate. Born in Guelph, Ontario, Lochhead served in the Canadian Army during the Second World War, later taking degrees at McGill University and the University of Toronto.

From 1963 to 1975 he was a librarian and Senior Fellow of Massey College, University of Toronto. In 1975 Lochhead took up the position of Davidson Professor of Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. The following year, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and received the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977. The Bibliographical Society of Canada awarded Lochhead the Marie Tremaine Medal in 1985. In 1987 he received honorary doctorates from Saint Mary's University and Dalhousie University. He received the 2005 Carlo Betocchi Poetry Prize, becoming the first non-Italian to be awarded this honour. In 2006 the University of New Brunswick awarded Lochhead an honorary doctor of letters degree. He was a Professor Emeritus of Mount Allison University.