Brian
Brett
Born in Vancouver in 1950, he studied literature at Simon Fraser
University
from 1969 to 1974. Writing and publishing since the late 1960s, he has
also
been involved in an editorial capacity with several publishing firms
such as
the Governor-General Award winning Blackfish Press. In the early
seventies, he
began working as a free lance journalist and critic for various
publications
and newspapers, including The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, The
Vancouver
Sun, The New Reader, Books In Canada, The Victoria Times-Colonist, and
The
Vancouver Province -- where he was the poetry critic for two years, and
had his
own column. He is currently writing a weekly newspaper column called
CultureWatch. Brett inaugurated the B.C. Poetry-In-The-Schools program,
introducing children in schools to world poetry for a period of several
years,
and has taught or given workshops on writing across Canada. He has been
a
member of organizations ranging from P.E.N. International, The League
of
Canadian Poets, the B.C. Federation Of Writers, to the Writer's Union
of
Canada. While a member of the League of Canadian Poets he performed a
National
Reading Tour under their auspices. He has also given readings on the
CBC and
various other media as well as public performances funded by private
organizations, universities, Harbourfront, Vancouver International
Writers'
Festival, Saltwater Festival, National Book Festival, and the Canada
Council.
Brett
currently lives on a farm with his family on Salt Spring Island, B.C.,
where he
cultivates his garden and creates ceramic forms.
BOOKS:
Uproar's
Your Only Music (A
Memoir in Poetry, Exile, Fall 2004). Coyote (Thistledown, Fall 2003).
The
Colour Of Bones In A Stream, Sono Nis, (Poems}, Sono Nis,
1998.
Allegories of Love and Disaster (Long Poem): Exile, 1993. Poems: New
and
Selected, Sono Nis, 1993. Tanganyika (Short Stories), Thistledown,
1991. The
Fungus Garden (Novel), Thistledown, 1988. Evolution In Every Direction
(Prose
Poems), Thistledown, 1987. Smoke Without Exit (Poems), Sono Nis, 1984.
Fossil
Ground At Phantom Creek (Poems), Blackfish, 1976
CD:
Night
Directions For Lost: The Talking Songs of Brian Brett, Tongue &
Groove Records, Fall 2003
PAMPHLETS,
BROADSIDES, BROADSIDE FOLIOS, ETC.,
Monster
(Prose Poems/Poems), White Rhino, 1981. Savage People Dressed In Skins
(Long
Poem), White Rhino, 1978. Green Light Stones & Trees, (with Allan
Safarik),
(Pamphlet), Cold Turkey Press, 1977. The Great Bear Constellation,
(Broadside),
1973. The West Coast, (Broadside Folio), Blackfish, 1972.
ANTHOLOGIES:
Rendezvous
With The Wild (Coffee Table Book) Houghton Mifflin, 2004, The Eye In
The
Thicket (Natural History Essays) Thistledown Books 2002. Mocambo
Nights, ed. by
Patrick Lane, Ekstasis Editions, 2001. Lost Classics ed. by Ondaatje,
Spalding,
Redhill (Anchor Classics), 2001. In The Clear (Fiction & Poetry)
Thistledown Books, 1998. What is Already Known (Fiction & Poetry)
Thistledown Books, 1995. How I Learned To Speak Dog (Poetry &
Prose)
Douglas & McIntyre. Witness To Wilderness (Poetry & Prose),
Arsenal
Pulp Press, 1994. Because You Loved Being A Stranger, (Poems) ed. by
Susan Musgrave,
Harbour Publishing, 1994. Myths & Voices (Short Stories), White
Pine Press,
U.S.A.,1993. The Last Map Is The Heart (Short Stories), Thistledown
Books,
1989. 15 Years In Exile, Exile, 1992. Vancouver Poetry (Poetry),
Polestar
Press, 1986. For Rexroth (Poetry), The Ark, 1980. Western Windows
(Poetry &
Prose), Commcept Publishing Ltd., 1977. A Government Job At Last
(Poetry),
MacLeod Books, 1977.
SELECTED
MAGAZINES:
Spring
Rain, Quarry, White Pelican, Sound Heritage, Pulp, Tractor, West Coast
Review, Inscape,
Poetry Canada Review, Literary Storefront Newsletter, CVII, Dandelion,
Western
Living, The New Quarterly, Highway One, Brick, Exile, Equinox, etc.,
RECENT
AWARDS, GRANTS, OFFICES, UNDERTAKINGS, ETC.,
Several
Canada Council Grants. Short Term Canada Council Writer In Residence,
Fraser
Valley Regional Library, 1987. Writer's Quarterly Annual Story
Competition,
Runner-up, 1988. The Writer's Union of Canada, B.C. Representative,
1989.
Producer of poetry events at Vancouver International Writer's Festival,
Fall
1991. Several B.C. Cultural Branch Writing Awards. Literary consultant
for Salt
Spring Summer Festival 1991-1998, Writer In Electronic Residence,
Writer's
Development Trust, Winter 1992. Short listed for 1993.B.C. Book Prize -
Poetry.
Co-producer of the internationally televised Great Clayoquot Sound
Writers'
Benefit - November, 1993. Co-producer of the Theatre Alive! Annual
Erotic
Literary Evening & Benefit, 1995-1998. Master of Ceremonies at the
Vancouver International Writers' Festival bill bissett tribyoot, 1997.
Writer-in-residence, Yukon Public Library System, Winter 1998. Writer's
Development Trust - Writer-In-Electronic Residence - 1998 spring
semester,
Instructor at Victoria School of Writing - July 2002.
RELEVANT
CRITICISM
Speculative
Fiction: A Teaching Resource, Jesse Stothers, Thistledown Press