Shaunt Basmajian was a Canadian poet

Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

.

Born in Beirut

Beirut

Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...

, Lebanon

Lebanon

Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...

 to Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

 parents, Basmajian emigrated to Canada when he was seven years old. He was a founder of the Canadian Poetry Association

Canadian Poetry Association

The Canadian Poetry Association began as a grass-roots organization dedicated to promoting the reading, writing, publishing and preservation of poetry in Canada through the individual efforts of members; promoting communication among poets, publishers and the general public; encouraging leadership...

, co-founder of Old Nun Publications (with Ted Plantos

Ted Plantos

Ted Plantos was a Canadian poet, writer, editor and promoter of Canadian literature.Ted ran the Toronto Public Library's reading series from 1970–1977. He led the People's Poetry Workshops on a weekly basis for the Toronto library system at The House On Gerard during the same time period. He...

), and was a member of the Parliament Street Library poetry group. The Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award

Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award

The Shaunt Basmajian Chapbook Award, established in 1996, was an annual prize given by the Canadian Poetry Association. It was named in memory of Shaunt Basmajian, a founder of the association. It was an annual manuscript publication competition and award...

, given annually to a Canadian poet, was established in his memory. The contest ran from 1996-2008.

In 1986, he was attacked with a knife and robbed while he was driving a taxi. His right lung was punctured when a robber stabbed him.

Sample poem

"I read the paper / and stay awake all night / writing poems / trying to forget everything / dreaming of a new world / a solution / an answer / in the aftermath"

—Shaunt Basmajian, excerpt from "On That Other Day In The Life Of Arto Sarkissian," Poets Who Don't Dance, 1985.