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 Ten Poetry Prizes.

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 (1971-2008), which has produced nearly 950 titles and several co-editions since its modest beginnings in 1971. Average annual output: upwards of 55 titles.

Émile Martel