Gaston Bellemare was a professional musician for 17 years, and despite his leap to university and the world of academia, he remained passionately committed to culture and the arts. Since 1996, he has devoted himself entirely to something he believes in: the power of poetry to rally all peoples of the world. It is a cause he has championed in Quebec, in other parts of Canada, and on foreign soil.

Recipient of the Governor General’s Medal (1996) and co-founder of Écrits des Forges (1970), Bellemare was also co-founder and coordinator of « l’École Internationale de Français » as well as director of student fieldwork placements for the Department of Recreation, Tourism and Culture at the University of Quebec at Trois Rivières.Since 1984, he has been President of the Festival International de la Poésie, an international event drawing between 35,000 and 40,000 visitors annually to Trois Rivières and firmly establishing that city’s reputation as “Poetry Capital of the World.”

Major Initiatives:

• La Promenade de la Poésie (Poetry Boardwalk) :300 poem excerpts on city walls
  
• Monument au Poète inconnu (Monument to the Unknown Poet), near city hall
  
• Poèmes d’autobus (Poems-on-the-buses): 100 poems on Trois Rivières city buses
  
• Maison de la Poésie de Trois-Rivières, a residence for visiting poets, inaugurated in 2001.
  

He has also created Six Poetry Prizes :

1. le Grand Prix du Festival International de la Poésie ($5000.00)
   
2. le Prix Félix-Leclerc ($1000.00)
   
3. le Prix Piché de Poésie de l’Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières ($2500.00)
   
4. le Prix Félix-Antoine-Savard
   
5. le Prix Antonio-Viccaro (bestowed on a poet from the francophone world-- la francophonie – and awarded at the “Marché de la poésie” in Paris)
   
6. le Prix Lapointe-Sabines, alternates yearly between a poet of Quebec and a poet of Mexico (50,000 Mexican pesos).
   

Founder in 2001 of the Fédération des Festivals Internationaux de Poésie, an umbrella organization for international poetry festivals with a mission to promote partnerships.

President of Écrits des Forges, which has produced nearly 950 titles and several co-editions since its modest beginnings in 1971. Average annual output: upwards of 55 titles.

Founder of L’École nationale de poésie which, in collaboration with le Collège Laflèche, offers a collegial certificate in poetic studies and a variety of workshops such as Master Poetry classes and poetry-vacations.

Émile Martel