Building bridges for new voices.

My father Donald E. Waterfall was the first person in his family to finish high school and went on to graduate from the University of Toronto in 1965. Subsequently, he earned a full scholarship to complete his PhD in Philosophy at Princeton University.

A former diplomat, he retired early to return to academia and became an undergraduate sessional instructor in Philosophy at his alma mater. When his grandchildren were born, he prepared education funds for each of them. Education — and reading poetry, in particular — was really important to my father.

When my father died suddenly in April 2021, I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could honour his memory. The Donald E. Waterfall Scholarship Fund is one way I can do that.

The funds collected via paid subscriptions and donations over one year will be awarded to an emerging poet who possesses an original perspective and a potent mixture of passion, craft, intuition and attention.