The SoundBox Collection
The SoundBox collection contains literary audio that represents important UBC and Canadian cultural heritage. In particular, the poetics conversations recorded between the 1960s and late 1980s reveal much about the gendered division of labour in artistic communities, the custodianship of community history, and the practices of dialogue and critique that underpin the production of literature at UBC, in Vancouver, and in the wider arts community in Canada and the U.S. Other literary audio genres in the collection include the poetry reading, interview, literary lecture, speech, and recital.
UBC Okanagan is a member of the SpokenWeb partnership. SpokenWeb is a SSHRC-funded partnership grant. All material that appears on this website is used for the purposes of academic research and critical study.
Sonic Spotlight
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S2, Episode 1: Sharon Thesen’s reading at the Bowerings’
University of Exeter undergraduates Sofie Drew and Emily Chircop carry out a close listening of a 1980 recording of Sharon Thesen reading from her first book Artemis Hates Romance at George and Angela Bowerings’ house. Drew and Chircop’s conversation focuses on the intimacy, sociality, and ambiguity of the recording, and how this shapes interpretation. The…
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On Sharon Thesen’s Reading at the Bowerings’
Karis Shearer talks with George Bowering with contributions from Jean Baird about the Sharon Thesen’s reading and launch of Artemis Hates Romance at George and Angela Bowerings’ house in the early 1980s. Their conversation touches on other readings and literary events at the Bowerings’, a social hub for writers living in and visiting Vancouver.
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“Chrysanthemum Perfume”
“Chrysanthemum Perfume” from The Beginning of the Long Dash
Current Exhibitions
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“It really was an elaborate trip”: Earle Birney on work, writing, and the BC Southern Interior
By Karis Shearer & Paige Hohmann In the following exchange, UBC (Okanagan) SpokenWeb affiliates Karis Shearer and Paige Hohmann turn their attention to a clip from the SoundBox Collection and consider its connection to the B.C. Interior and the B.C. Regional Digitized History archive. This is part one of a series called “Archival Bonds” where…
Featured Writers
Daphne Marlatt
Daphne Marlatt (1942-) grew up in Penang, Malaysia before immigrating to Canada in the 1950s. While studying at UBC in the 1960s, Marlatt was one of the editors during the second-phase of TISH. Marlatt has written over twenty collections of poetry and prose including Steveston (1974), The Given (2008), and Reading Sveva (2016). In 2006 she received the Order of Canada. Marlatt lives in Vancouver.
bill bissett
bill bissett (1939-) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. bissett is a sound, visual, and performance poet, well known for his unique orthography and performance of his sound poetry. bissett’s performances often incorporate sound effects, chanting, dancing, and sometimes playing a maraca. The themes of bissett’s poetry encompasses a wide range that is explored through the use of humour, sentimentality, and political commentary. bissett’s most recent poetry book, breth, combines both new and selected poems.
Gladys Hindmarch
Gladys Hindmarch was born in 1940 in Ladysmith, B.C. The author of four books, including Wanting Everything: The Collected Works of Gladys Hindmarch (2020), Hindmarch was a core member of the TISH community in its first phase (1961-63) and an editor in its second phase. Her experimental feminist prose emerges from a proprioceptive tradition. Hindmarch lives in Vancouver.
Sharon Thesen
Sharon Thesen was born in Tisdale, Saskatchewan. She spent spent most of her early years in Kamloops and Prince George, eventually moving to Vancouver to study and teach. In 2005 she joined UBC Okanagan where she is now Professor Emerita. Thesen is the author of 11 books of poetry including a number of chapbooks. Her books have been finalists for a number of prestigious awards including the Governor-General’s Award and the Dorothy Livesay Prize; her book of poems A Pair of Scissors won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She currently lives in Lake Country, BC.
Roy Kiyooka
Roy Kenzie Kiyooka (1926-1994) was a painter, writer, photographer, and educator born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He participated in the Emma Lake Workshops (1957-1960) with Barnett Newman, Clement Greenberg, and Will Barnett before moving to Vancouver in 1959, where he had an important impact on the arts scene. From 1971-72 he taught at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, from 1965-70 at Sir George Williams (now Concordia) University, and finally at The University of British Columbia. His poetry collections include Kyoto Airs (1964), Nevertheless These Eyes (1967), StoneDGloves (1970), Transcanada Letters (1975), The Fontainbleau Dream Machine (1977), and The Pear Tree Pomes (1987). Kiyooka was awarded the Order of Canada in 1978.
Daphne Marlatt
Daphne Marlatt (1942-) grew up in Penang, Malaysia before immigrating to Canada in the 1950s. While studying at UBC in the 1960s, Marlatt was one of the editors during the second-phase of TISH. Marlatt has written over twenty collections of poetry and prose including Steveston (1974), The Given (2008), and Reading Sveva (2016). In 2006 she received the Order of Canada. Marlatt lives in Vancouver.
bill bissett
bill bissett (1939-) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. bissett is a sound, visual, and performance poet, well known for his unique orthography and performance of his sound poetry. bissett’s performances often incorporate sound effects, chanting, dancing, and sometimes playing a maraca. The themes of bissett’s poetry encompasses a wide range that is explored through the use of humour, sentimentality, and political commentary. bissett’s most recent poetry book, breth, combines both new and selected poems.
Gladys Hindmarch
Gladys Hindmarch was born in 1940 in Ladysmith, B.C. The author of four books, including Wanting Everything: The Collected Works of Gladys Hindmarch (2020), Hindmarch was a core member of the TISH community in its first phase (1961-63) and an editor in its second phase. Her experimental feminist prose emerges from a proprioceptive tradition. Hindmarch lives in Vancouver.
Sharon Thesen
Sharon Thesen was born in Tisdale, Saskatchewan. She spent spent most of her early years in Kamloops and Prince George, eventually moving to Vancouver to study and teach. In 2005 she joined UBC Okanagan where she is now Professor Emerita. Thesen is the author of 11 books of poetry including a number of chapbooks. Her books have been finalists for a number of prestigious awards including the Governor-General’s Award and the Dorothy Livesay Prize; her book of poems A Pair of Scissors won the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She currently lives in Lake Country, BC.
Roy Kiyooka
Roy Kenzie Kiyooka (1926-1994) was a painter, writer, photographer, and educator born in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. He participated in the Emma Lake Workshops (1957-1960) with Barnett Newman, Clement Greenberg, and Will Barnett before moving to Vancouver in 1959, where he had an important impact on the arts scene. From 1971-72 he taught at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design, from 1965-70 at Sir George Williams (now Concordia) University, and finally at The University of British Columbia. His poetry collections include Kyoto Airs (1964), Nevertheless These Eyes (1967), StoneDGloves (1970), Transcanada Letters (1975), The Fontainbleau Dream Machine (1977), and The Pear Tree Pomes (1987). Kiyooka was awarded the Order of Canada in 1978.