Ever since his childhood, which he spent on a farm in Southern Alberta, Elmer Epp has had a passion for writing—a compulsion. At the University of B.C., he spent his final two years studying English literature with many courses dedicated to poetry. Feeling compelled to live life as fully as possible, even when it felt like ‘sandpaper on his soul,’ he made a point of taking chances, prepared to do anything simply for the experience. Along the way, Elmer worked as a porter on trains travelling between Toronto and Vancouver, watching Canada go by, and lived in Toronto in the late sixties with a “wild bunch of Jamaican lads.”
Eventually he became a lawyer, which taught him to write more thoughtfully and carefully, and for six years was one of the Chairs of the Canada Pension Plan Disability Review Tribunals. This position exposed him to the reality of how many unfortunate people are barely surviving in dire circumstances, and much of that witnessed pain is deeply embedded in his heart and his poetry. Elmer currently lives in Kamloops, British Columbia, with Susan, his wife of fifty years. The couple have three lovely daughters, nine grandchildren, and a dog named Gunner, who helps keep him grounded by demanding his long daily walks. |
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