Janis Rapoport

Janis Rapoport (1946-) is a poet, playwright, writer of non-fiction, educator and editor. She was born in Toronto, the daughter of Maxwell Lewis Rapoport and Roslyn Cohen. She married Dr. David Seager in 1966; divorced in 1980. They had three children: Jeremy Seager (1970), Sara Seager (1971) and Julia Seager (1973). She married Douglas Donegani in 1980; divorced in 2003. They had a daughter, Renata Donegani (1980). She married Fernando Miranda Arregui in 2003. She lives in Pembroke, Ontario and Cusco, Peru.

Rapoport received a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto in 1967. She has been Associate Editor of Tamarack Review (1970-82), Editor of Ethos (1983-86), Playwright-in-Residence (1974-75), and Writer-in-Residence at several Ontario libraries (1987 -1991). She has also worked as a literary and television editor, and as an instructor at the University of Toronto.

Rapoport has been a member of the League of Canadian Poets, the Writers’ Union of Canada, the Playwrights’ Union of Canada, the Writers’ Guild of Canada, and PEN International and is currently a member of the Playwrights' Guild of Canada (formerly the Playwrights' Union of Canada) and the Writers' Guild of Canada. She has received numerous awards including the New York Art Directors Club Award of Merit in 1983, the American Institute of Graphic Arts Certificate of Excellence in 1983, the American Poetry Association Award in 1986, a Canada Council Arts Award in 1991, a Toronto Arts Council Award in 1990 and 1992, and an Ontario Arts Council Work-in-Progress Grant in 1995.

Rapoport’s publications include Within the Whirling Moment (1967), Jeremy’s Dream (1974), Winter Flowers (1979), Dreamgirls (1979), Upon her Fluent Route (1991), and After Paradise (1996). Her unpublished plays include And She Could Eat No Lean and Gilgamesh. Her articles have been published in Canadian magazines and newspapers, and her writing has been anthologized in four languages. Rapoport is currently working on a book about her travels and experiences in Peru and Bolivia.