Phyllis Webb

Webb's poetry had diverse influences, ranging from neo-Confucianism to the field theory of composition developed by the Black Mountain poets.

Critics have described her collections Naked Poems (1965) and Wilson's Bowl (1980) as important works in contemporary Canadian literature.

[2] In 1949, aged 22, she ran as a candidate for the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation in the 1949 British Columbia general election.

[2] Her first book publication was in Trio, a collection of poems by Eli Mandel, Gael Turnbull, and Webb published by Raymond Souster's Contact Press.

[6] Webb's approach shifted in the 1960s toward a model of poetry influenced by the field theory of composition developed by Charles Olson and the Black Mountain poets.

[9] Wilson's Bowl (1980) adopts a new poetics centred on a critique of political and interpersonal power, drawing from Haida stories "to undermine the binary structures of Western thought".

[19] Soon after Extension finished, Webb moved from Toronto to Salt Spring Island, British Columbia,[17] where she lived for much of her life.