Penn Kemp

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Penn Kemp

Goodreads Author


Born
in London, Canada
Website

Twitter

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Member Since
May 2013

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Penn Kemp received the League of Canadian Poets Inaugural Lifetime Achievemnt Award, 2025. She has been an energetic presence in poetry circles since her first publication in 1972. London’s first Poet Laureate, Penn is a keen participant in Canada’s cultural life, with 30+ books of poetry, prose and drama; seven plays and multimedia galore. See Substack, Facebook, Instagram, X, www.pennkemp.weebly.com and www.pennkemp.wordpress.com. ...more

Books I read and recommend 2025

Take a look: you might find your own fave:
https://pennkemp.wordpress.com/2025/1...?

2025 saw two new collections of poetry out… thanks to above /ground press and silver bow publishing! And many publications/ readings: details on www.pennkemp.weebly.com. A special shoutout to www.publicreverie.com for their support! I was surprised to be awarded the League of Poets’ inaugural Lifetime Achievement Aw Read more of this blog post »
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Published on December 21, 2025 16:23 Tags: canadian-literature, penn-kemp, poetry
Average rating: 4.37 · 59 ratings · 23 reviews · 20 distinct works
Jack Layton: Art in Action

really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2013
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Fox Haunts

4.67 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2018
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Barbaric Cultural Practice

4.33 avg rating — 6 ratings — published 2016
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Local Heroes

4.50 avg rating — 4 ratings2 editions
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Gathering Voice

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2004
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River Revery

it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings2 editions
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P.S.

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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2022
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Poems in Response to Peril:...

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4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2022
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Sarasvati Scapes

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2002
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From Dream Sequins

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it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — published 2012
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Bark
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Who Will Run the ...
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How We Fight For ...
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by Saeed Jones (Goodreads Author)
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Penn’s Recent Updates

Our Numbered Bones by Katya Balen
"Katya Balen is a phenomenal writer and over the last few years has captivated younger readers( and adults) with her magical, sometimes ethereal, moving and sensitive tales of young lives going through periods of challenge and transition.

Our Numbered " Read more of this review »
Penn Kemp rated a book really liked it
Our Numbered Bones by Katya Balen
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Moon Road by Sarah Leipciger
Moon Road
by Sarah Leipciger (Goodreads Author)
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Ordinary / Moving by Penn Kemp
Ordinary / Moving
by Penn Kemp (Goodreads Author)
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Thanks to The Seaboard Review of Books and Antoinette Voûte Roeder for this sumptuous review https://www.theseaboardreview.ca/p/or... now up... ...more
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Ordinary, Moving by Phyllis Gotlieb
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In Winter I Get Up at Night by Jane Urquhart
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Highly recommending Jane Urquhart’s new novel. Like many great Canadian novelists, Jane Urquhart began as a poet. She has a mind for winter and for landscape. And that sensibility inhabits her elegant prose in a language of loss and loneliness and li ...more
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6 by Eva Jurczyk
6:40 to Montreal
by Eva Jurczyk (Goodreads Author)
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The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
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A Slowly Dying Cause by Elizabeth  George
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The Black Wolf by Louise Penny
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More of Penn's books…
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
“Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God,
But only he who sees takes off his shoes;
The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”
Elizabeth Barrett Browning

“If you are a real writer, then just surrender to the writer's life, all of it, even the bad stuff. When you do that, the beauty appears: the peace, the meaning, the joy, the fulfillment, the sense that you are doing what you were born to do and what could be better, in the end, than that?”
Lauren B. Davis

“Writing, for me, makes the world shiver and flame with meaning.”
Lauren B. Davis

Emily St. John Mandel
“He found he was a man who repented almost everything, regrets crowding in around him like moths to a light. This was actually the main difference between twenty-one and fifty-one, he decided, the sheer volume of regret.”
Emily St. John Mandel, Station Eleven

Rohinton Mistry
“The human face has limited space. If you fill it with laughter there will be no room for crying.”
Rohinton Mistry, A Fine Balance

220 Goodreads Librarians Group — 321079 members — last activity 4 minutes ago
Goodreads Librarians are volunteers who help ensure the accuracy of information about books and authors in the Goodreads' catalog. The Goodreads Libra ...more
140971 Kalamalka Press — 66 members — last activity Aug 13, 2014 04:13PM
Since 1986, Kalamalka Press has published more than 20 books and anthologies focused on poetry, fiction and literary criticism by both new and establi ...more
146728 Reading Peace — 1470 members — last activity Aug 15, 2023 08:57AM
Reading Peace is a book club exploring topics in mindfulness and Buddhism in daily life in a way that is accessible and relevant to today. We meet o ...more
18592 The Biblio File podcast with Nigel Beale — 156 members — last activity Sep 17, 2020 10:17PM
The Biblio File is a podcast ( http://thebibliofile.ca ) hosted by writer, broadcaster, bibliophile, Nigel Beale (http://nigelbeale.com ). Each episo ...more
31471 THE Group for Authors! — 13012 members — last activity 11 hours, 35 min ago
This is a group for authors to discuss their craft, as well as publishing and book marketing.
182921 CanadianContent — 776 members — last activity Apr 21, 2026 11:10AM
A Group to talk about books written by Canadian authors - beware - your TBR pile will grow dramatically!
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