Fonds MG014 - Noni Howard Collection

Helen Eleanor Noni Howard was a lesbian poet, teacher, writer, publisher and therapist. She was born in Montreal, Canada in 1949, and studied at Bishop's University. She received two B.A.s (one in English Literature and the other in Comparative Religion) from Bishop's in 1971, and was the editor of "The Mitre" for several years. Howard founded the New World Press Collective in 1974 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and was the founder/editor of "Bloodjet" and "Prisma." Her books include "The Politics of Separation" (1974), "Almost Like Dancing" (1975), "The Anthology of the First Annual Women's Poetry Festival in San Francisco" (1977), "Share My Fantasies" (1996), and "Tiger Balm" (1997). She moved to California and the First Annual Women's Poetry Festival (1977) was her brainchild. In May 2004 she was awarded an honorary degree by Frontier University (of Nova Scotia) and in June 2004, she received a B.A. in Etudes Quebecoises from the same university. In March of 2005, she was named Principal of Frontier University (its first woman Principal). Noni Howard died in October 2012. A notice of death was published in The Vancouver Courier on Jun. 21, 2013. It read "Noni passed away suddenly in Half Moon Bay, California. Her remains are interred in her parent's plot, at Quebec's Sherbrooke cemetery." Noni Howard died in October 2012. (Biography courtesy of Online Archives of California (OAC))