Georgette LeBlanc hopes to inspire Canadians through poetry

Georgette LeBlanc says she's been given the rare gift of time to write more.

LeBlanc, who lives in Church Point, N.S., was named Canada's eighth parliamentary poet laureate this week. 

The mother of three children, who are six, nine and 12, said it can be challenging to set aside the blocks of time necessary to work on her craft.

"We all have bills to pay, we have to get things done. I have kids and so it frees up time. It's wonderful… I can concentrate, so I can think about it," she said.

"To have the right, actually, to be able to write and publish, say what I want to say, give my opinion. It's a very big deal."

The two-year term comes with a stipend of $20,000. The role includes sponsoring poetry readings, writing poetry for use in Parliament and for special occasions, and advising the parliamentary librarian about acquisitions. 

LeBlanc hopes to publish her work on the poet laureate's website and expand a national poetry registry. She also hopes to encourage Canadians to appreciate poetry — whether it be in song lyrics or storytelling.

"To hopefully remind them and hopefully inspire them to read, to listen, to pay attention to it," she said. 

LeBlanc, who is originally from ​Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., plans to continue to be based in Nova Scotia where she works in the archives department at Université Sainte-Anne.

Her works include Alma, Amédé and Le Grand Feu. Her collection Prudent, about the deportation of Acadians to Virgina, was a finalist for the 2014 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry. LeBlanc has also written for theatre, television and musical projects.

She writes in free verse and said she hopes readers can take a story from her poems, just as they would from a novel.

Perhaps "too mouthy" to work as an actual historian, LeBlanc said she's often inspired to re-tell stories that are part of Acadians' cultural memory.

"History has always been a real passion of mine. History is storytelling, really, the official storytelling. I've always kind of played around with that," she said.

LeBlanc said hopes she can bring her own style and perspective to the position most recently held by George Elliott Clarke. At the end of his term, Clarke spoke about wanting his successor to continue writing work for parliamentarians. 

Though she will "make no promises" about writing for MPs, she said "if the theme or the topic moves me, of course."

"So, we'll see. It'll be fun," she said. "Artists, poets are important players really. They're creators. They're the ones who take the time to sort of hang out in imagination, in ideas, in outside of the box thinking. We need that as a group."