Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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Milton Acorn and Gwendolyn MacEwen

Photos and transcription by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted October, 2015

This 2015 Heritage Toronto plaque can be found at the intersection of Lakeshore Avenue and Second Street on Wards Island. Here's what it says:

Coordinates: 43.632347 -79.353385

Click here for a larger map

Canadian poets Milton Acorn (1923-1986) and Gwendolyn MacEwen (1941-1987) were married in February 1962 and, attracted by the Toronto Island's natural beauty, moved into a cottage north of here, at 10 Second Street. MacEwen and Acorn were regulars at the Bohemian Embassy, a popular Toronto coffee house that featured poetry recitals and folk music.

After their brief marriage ended in November 1962, MacEwen remained in Toronto, writing visionary and mystical poetry. She won a Governor General's Award in 1969 and again, posthumously, in 1987. Acorn lived in various parts of Canada, including Toronto, and won fame for his poems on nature, labour, and free speech. His literary peers presented him with the "People's Poet" medal in 1970, and he won a Governor General's Award in 1975.

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