Marilyn Lerch, Janet Crawford and Dan Steeves join the ranks on the Sackville Arts Wall
Since 2008, Sackville’s Arts Wall has been honouring local artists who have made an impact at the regional, national or international level, and those who have helped to build the cultural and artistic life of the town. This week, three more names were added to the distinguished assembly: Janet Crawford, Marilyn Lerch, and Dan Steeves.
CHMA spoke with all three new inductees, and brings you their voices as they talk about their work and their love for the cultural life of Sackville.
Literary Arts honoree: Marilyn Lerch
After a full career as an educator in the United States, Marilyn Lerch moved to Sackville in 1996 and took up her lifelong passion of writing poetry. Many acclaimed collections of poems later, Lerch is a respected cultural force and societal critic. She served as Poet Laureate of Sackville for four years from 2014 to 2018, and led the Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick for four years from 2006 to 2010. Most recently, she published a collaborative work called Disharmonies, with fellow Sackville poet Geordie Miller, printed by letterpress artist Keagan Hawthorne.
In a conversation with CHMA, Lerch talked about the origins of her second career in the literary arts:
Visual Arts: Dan Steeves
