Canadian Literature
Searching for Encyclopedias or Reference Books? 
The Canadian Encyclopedia: Canadian Literature in English
The Canadian Encyclopedia: Biographies of Fiction Writers
The Canadian Encyclopedia: Biographies of Non-Fiction Writers
The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature
The Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada
Canadian Writers and their Works: [essays on form, context and development]: Fiction Series
Canadian Writers and their Works: [essays on form, context and development]: Poetry Series
Searching for Books?
Anthologies of Canadian literature, including poetry, short stories and fiction
Books on history and literary criticism of Canadian literature
Books of Canadian poetry (English)
Governor General’s Literary Award titles
Finding books of biography and literary criticism about individual Canadian authors at the library
- Do a Subject Search using the individual author’s name e.g. W.O. Mitchell
- Add the term ‘Criticism ‘ to the Subject Search e.g. Margaret Atwood and criticism
- Do a Subject Search using the title of a specific title e.g. The Handmaid’s Tale
Searching for Audiovisual material?
Videos about Canadian authors and their works
Searching for Magazine, Journal and Newspaper Articles?
Using Information Databases, you will find articles published in magazines, newspapers and academic journals that you can’t find using the Internet. All our databases are listed on our website but we recommend you try the ones below first.
*If you are using a computer that isn’t in the library, you’ll be asked to type in your library card number.
Literature Resource Center
Search by:
- Author’s name
- Title of work
- Keywords or topics
Canadian Business and Current Affairs (CBCA)
Search for:
- Author’s name under the Topic tab
- Reviews and criticism by title of work
For more articles, also try
Biography Resource Centre
Canadian Reference Centre
See all Information Databases.
What are Information Databases?
Recommended Websites
Canadian Poetry Archive
Selected poems from early English and French language Canadian poets, notable poetry from the 19th and early 20th century, drawn from public domain anthologies in the National Library of Canada. Search by poet, title, keyword or date.
Markham Village Writers
Home page of the Markham Village Writers group whose mission is to inspire each other to write, write, write! Includes Events & Resources, Contests, and Writer's Market information.
In my Community
London Arts Council
The home page of the Arts Council, an umbrella organization for the arts in London, including literature. This site offers arts news and an arts calendar which includes events related to poetry, drama and literature.
London Writers’ Society
This group offers information, support, community and literary exposure for London, Ontario area writers. The group is open to aspiring writers at all levels and meets on the third Thursday of each month.
Poetry doesn't appeal to everyone, but I think that it's like cheese - you need to taste a number of different types in order to find the ones that suit your own tastebuds!
