Prominent poet, writer Ellen Jaffe ‘did a lot of good in the world’
Ontario Poetry Society creates award for poet known for humanist themes
When you lose someone you love, They return gradually, shyly, to your heart,
Growing roots, then flowers, Cherished, delicate, visible only to you.
— Ellen Jaffe
Ellen Jaffe had the soul of a poet.
Jaffe, who died of cancer in Toronto on March 16 at age 77, won two poetry awards from the Hamilton Literary Awards, including the 2003 prize for her poetry collection “Water Children.”
The psychotherapist won many other awards, served as a judge in writing contests and ran writing workshops.
The former Hamilton resident gave readings at venues in Ontario, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, including Poetry and Paragraphs in St. Catharines in 1997, and the Hamilton Poetry Book Club in 2000. Her poems were translated into French and Finnish, she contributed dozens of articles to the Ontario Arts Review, and was shortlisted for the CBC Literary Competition in 1996.
She was so highly regarded that the Ontario Poetry Society has created a new prize in her memory called the Ellen S. Jaffe Humanist Award for Poetry. The first prize is $500. Five honourable mentions will receive $100 each.
“Ellen did a lot of good in this world,” friend Marilyn Gear Pilling said on social media. “She had a kind heart, and her poetry reached many people. She will be greatly missed.”
Poet Conrad DiDiodato said it was a privilege to share the mic with her at a reading.
“Ellen was a remarkable individual,” he said on social media. “She was kind, gracious and beautifully lyrical.”
Jeanne Robinson said she was lucky to get Jaffe to come to a writing workshop.
“She encouraged us all about our writing and whenever I had writer’s block, with one gentle suggestion (she) would open the floodgates,” she said. “It was such a joy and honour to be in her presence.”
The names of some other works were “Skinny-Dipping With The Muse” and “The Last Day I Saw Willie Mays and other Poems.” Her poems appeared in anthologies like “Crossing Lines; Poets who came to Canada in the Vietnam War Era,” “Now See Here! An Anthology of Southern Ontario Poets and Illustrations,” and “This I Believe.”
She also wrote a young adult novel, “Feast of Lights” (2006), and a play, “Promise You Won’t Marry Me.” It was produced by the Black Box Fire Theatre company in 2008. A play she adapted from Margaret Laurence’s novel “Jason’s Quest” was produced in 2001.
She co-edited (with friend Lillian Blume) two works on the Jewish experience of settling in Canada, “From Sinai to the Shtetl” and “Letters and Pictures from the Old Suitcase” and helped found the Celebration of Jewish Writers and Writing with Blume at the Temple Anshe Sholom.
Jaffe was born in New York City on March 15, 1945. Her father was a cardiologist. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1966 with a BA and served as editor of the Wellesley News while there. She attended Columbia University for Theatre Studies and received a master’s in education from New York University. She lived in England between 1972-1979 and studied to be a child psychologist at the Tavistock Clinic in London.
She came to Ontario in 1979 and lived in Woodstock. She worked part time as a therapist and later had clients in Hamilton and Toronto. She got her Canadian citizenship in 1993 and moved to Hamilton in 2000 because, as she told The Spec in 2001, she wanted to be closer to a writer’s network with which she connected.
One of her favourite things was teaching writing to children. She had staged workshops since she lived in New York City and wrote “Writing Your Way: Creating a Personal Journal” in 2001 to stimulate young writers.
“Children have a whole different view of the world,” she told The Spec. “And you see it in their writing.”
Jaffe moved to Toronto in 2018 and was diagnosed with cancer in 2019. She died at the Bridgepoint palliative care facility.
She was a member of the Writers Union of Canada and the League of Canadian Poets.
Jaffe is survived by her son Joe Bitz, partner Roger Gilbert, stepchildren Terri, Vance and Simon and three step-grandchildren. She is also survived by her first husband Allan Bitz.