Author: Lauren St Clair

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bill bissett

A black and white portrait of bill bissett smiling candidly.

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.

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Frank Davey

A black and white portrait of Frank Davey
Frank Davey, 1964. Photo provided.

Frank Davey (1940– ) is an Abbotsford-raised poet and essayist who has been an editor, small magazine publisher, literary critic, and cultural critic in Canada since 1961. He co-founded the poetry newsletter Tish and from 1965-2013 was editor of Open Letter, the Canadian journal of writing and theory. In 1984 he and Fred Wah co-founded SwiftCurrent, the world’s first on-line literary magazine, which ran until 1990. Davey is the author of numerous poetry books, including Weeds (1970), King of Swords (1972), and The Abbotsford Guide to India (1986) and such critical works as Five Readings of Olson’s Maximus (1970), Earle Birney (1971) and Canadian Literary Power (1994).

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Robert Hogg

A black-and-white portrait of Robert Hogg. Robert is captured in motion writing at a table in front of him.
"Vancouver 1964. My flat at 4th and Burrard, with stubby beer, clipboard, & trusty Halda typewriter which I still have—just before hitchhiking east to TO, Buffalo, and NYC."

Robert Hogg (1942-2022) was born in Edmonton, AB, and grew up in Cariboo and Fraser Valley, BC. Hogg graduated from UBC with a BA in English and Creative Writing. During his time at UBC, Hogg became affiliated as a poet and co-editor a part of TISH. In 1964, Hogg hitchhiked to Toronto and visited Buffalo NY, where Charles Olson had been teaching at the time. At SUNY at Buffalo, he completed a Ph.D. on the works of Charles Olson. Shortly after, Hogg taught American and Canadian poetry at Carleton University for the following thirty-eight years and kept a farm near Ottawa.

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Meredith Quartermain

A portrait of Meredith Quartermain.

Meredith Quartermain (1950– ) is a Vancouver-based novelist, essayist, fine-press publisher, and poet. She has also worked as a computer systems analyst, freelance journalist and technical writer. Quartermain holds a Master’s in English and a law degree from UBC; she has been an English instructor and a practicing litigator. The author of over 13 books and her work has been anthologized in a number of collections. Quartermain received the Dorothy Livesay Prize for her collection Vancouver Walking. With her partner Peter Quartermain, she ran Slug Press, followed by Keefer Street Press, publishing hand-set letterpress broadsides and pamphlets, and Nomados Literary Publishers, which published many innovative poets from across North America.

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Jean Baird

Jean Baird smiles while holding a California League Official Ball.

Jean Baird has been a professor, magazine publisher, consultant for non-profit organizations, and creative director of Canada Book Week for the Writers’ Trust of Canada. She is a book collector and bibliographer who co-founded the Al Purdy A-frame Association, which transformed the Purdys’ famous A-frame in Ameliasburgh, Ontario into a writers’ residence.

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