By Sean Delaney
Lawrence Hutchman, Emery’s renowned Poet Laureate, recently made a significant donation to the Woodview Public Library. The poet laureate of Emery Village is a man whose history is intertwined with the village he calls home, and it is that history and his own that inspires the narratives he creates today. It was only natural and fitting that a more extensive collection of Hutchman’s work be available to the Emery community. The donated works include - Fire and Water, Swimming Toward the Sun, House of Shifting Time, Foreign National, Beyond the Borders and Selected Poems and Personal Encounters.
“We are so honoured and thankful for Lawrence to be so thoughtful and generous thinking of us and donating these books,” Woodview Public Library branch head Diana Rothbauer said. “And it just goes to show how The Toronto Public Library is really a hub for the community and how we want to give back, so what you have poured out in these books, we want to give back to our readers so that they can enjoy for these wonderful works, generations to come.” 
Previously, two books written about Emery had already been donated and available for reading.
The first book, titled Emery, begins with the story of John Graves Simcoe and finishes just after World War II. The Second, Two Maps of Emery, outlines the arrival of people from other parts of Canada and Europe and follows a history of the growth of the area and a creative discussion of his own development in the village.
Hutchman’s books can be found on Amazon and at Chapters. Also online, at ABE Books or Black Moss Press.
www.blackmosspress.com/laurence-hutchman/Outside of his work after being named Emery’s official poet laureate, Hutchman has served as the representative for Quebec and New Brunswick/PEI for the League of Canadian Poets and as President of the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick.