Judith Copithorne (Canadian, b. 1939) is one of Vancouver’s most influential concrete poets. Copithorne’s “poem-drawings” employ abstract lines and words to create a visual work of art, a reference to concrete poetry’s emphasis on typographical effects rather than verbal importance. Her work from the 1960s and 1970s engages with meditation and community, referring to mandalas, maps and yogic texts. Her work has expanded, including explorations into digital means of composing poem-drawings, creating crisp and over saturated drawings with texts. Copithorne’s practice in concrete poetry and other forms of experimental writing led to her social and artistic participation at Sound Gallery, Motion Studio and Intermedia in Vancouver. She worked alongside many artist-poets, taking part in Downtown Vancouver Poets, an informal group imagined as a counterpoint to those involved at TISH, a Canadian poetry newsletter run by student-poets at the University of British Columbia in 1961. Copithorne has an extensive list of publications including over 40 books, chapbooks and ephemeral items.