Louis Dudek, OC (February 6, 1918 – March 23, 2001) was a Canadian poet and literary critic and publisher of Polish origin. He is known for his writing, his role in defining Modernism in poetry, and his literary criticism. He was the author of over two dozen books of poetry, criticism, and other topics. He supported and initially published many poets, including other now-established writers including Daryl Hyne and Ken Norris.
Born in Montreal, Quebec to a Catholic family which had emigrated from Poland, Dudek received a BA from McGill University in 1939. He joined the Department of English of McGill University in 1951, where he lectured in modern poetry. Dudek remained at McGill for the rest of his life. He founded Contact Press, a Montreal publisher of poetry in the 1950s and 1960s, with Raymond Souster and Irving Layton. Writer Robin Blaser called Dudek “Canada’s most important—that is to say, consequential modern voice.”
The Dudek archives and many of his papers, known as the Louis Dudek fonds, are stored in Library and Archives Canada (formerly know as the National Library of Canada).
In 1983 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.
His son Gregory is a professor of computer science and is presently serving as director of the McGill University School of Computer Science.
In 2006 a German translation of his selected poetry was published at Elfenbein-Verlag, Berlin
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