Publisher, Poetry Lover, Pilot

I do not know Scott Griffin, except as a nodding acquaintance. I see him at literary functions or lectures in Toronto, usually in the company of his extraordinarily beautiful wife, Krystyne. I have attended readings by the Griffin Poetry Prize finalists, where Mr. Griffin, as founder of this generous award ($50,000 annually to two poets, one Canadian and one international) introduces the poets in an unassuming, affable manner, and then sits in his onstage chair and listens attentively to each one. He is a slight, wiry man who often wears an old-fashioned double-breasted blazer with jeans. If you sit beside him at dinner, as I did once at Massey College, he might talk to you about the publishing business; he (a successful entrepreneur) recently purchased the foundering, intensely literary House of Anansi Press. He clearly would like to infect the antiquated traditions of Canadian publishing with some business sense, which is admirable, and surely Mr. Griffin will do this in a...