I kept hearing silently, looking at the excited face of Mr. Dave Windsor, my nominator, when he told me again, after informing me  in writing and over the phone, that I will be  inducted as a literary artist into the ARTS HALL OF FAME of Cornwall and the surrounding area. In the letter to Mr. Windsor my name appeared next to the Chair of the Committee for the Cornwall and Arts Hall of Fame, Ms Rose Desnoyers. Official letter adds:  ”As part of a group of nine candidates chosen this year, Mr. Gill joins other citizens recognized since its inception in 2015.” Other artists who have been recognized include from the genres of music, theatre, art and dance. There will be a gala on October 29th at the Ramada Inn to celebrate the investiture of the winners.  I thanked Mr. Windsor and read later in another official brochure that says this is the highest award currently presented to a living or deceased artists… 

Arts Hall of Fame, a branch of the Arts Collective, was founded with the help of the City of Cornwall to confirm the diversity and the strength of the arts in the communities of Cornwall. I would like to quote a few lines from the profile that was submitted with the letter of nomination and a picture:  Self-exiled Stephen Gill is multiple award winning Indo/Canadian poet, fiction-writer, literary critic and essayist. He has authored over thirty books, including novels, literary criticism, and collections of poems, and has appeared in around seven hundred (700) print media. Singers have performed his Urdu/Hindi poems, and scholars have done doctorates (Ph.D.) on him. He has been translated in other languages, except in any language of India where he was born. Thirteen critical studies have been released by book publishers on his works. The focus of his writing is love and peace, based on his ideology of live and let live. ( For more information on Stephen Gill, please refer to his websites: stephengill.ca and stephengill.info)

This press release is to share the news with my friends and fans and to thank the selection committee of the Arts Hall of Fame, particularly its chair Rose Desnoyers, also an artist,  for honouring a poet.

 

StephenGill, a multiple award-winning Indo/Canadian self-exiled poet, fiction writer, and essayist, has authored more than thirty books. He is the subject of doctoral dissertations and thirteen books of critical studies have been released. The focus of his writing is live and let live. Available For: writer or poet in residence.

WEBSITES: www.stephengill.ca & stephengillcriticism.info  (stephengillgazette@gmail.com)