born halifax nova scotia nov 1939 came 2 vancouver 58 startid blewointment press 6383 reedings sound work seek 2 keep on xploring byond narrativ as well as lyrik politikul romanse n storee telling singr n lyricist with LUDDITES band alternativ rock basd in london ont moovd 2 ontario 85 now basd in toronto sins 1992 invitid 2 partisipate in sound poetree festivals glasgow london england new york amsterdam paris toronto n st johns nufoundland did european tour with adeena karasick 92
Awards
milton acorn peopuls poets award, 1990.
dorothy livesay bc book award poetree, 1993.
Selected Publications
inkorrect thots. (Talonbooks, 1992).
th last photo uv th human soul. (Talonbooks, 1993).
th influenza uv logik. (Talonbooks, 1995).
loving without being vulnerabul. (Talonbooks, 1997).
skars on th seehors. (Talonbooks, 1999).
Recordings
sonic horses (with dermot foley and lenore coutts).
luddites (with Peter Denny, Gerry Collins and Murray Favro), 1987.
london life. (london works, 1992).
dreemin uv th nite. (luddites, 1992).
skars on th seehors. (van trout sound, 1999).
Selected Anthologies
Canadian Poetry, Volume Two. (General Publishing/ECW Press, 1982).
The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English. (Oxford University
Press, 1982).
Descant 98 LOVE. (Descant, 1998).
Poet in the School
(Toronto)
bissett is a poet, editor, painter and musician. He has been a leading figure not only on the West Coast cultural scene, but in Canadian culture nationally. He is an experimental, concrete and performance poet, reciting and chanting his own work. "Make no mistake about it,î wrote one Vancouver journalist, "bill bissett's poetry is political. How much more subversive can you get?î He has been called a "precious and non-renewable cultural resourceî and "a one-man civilizationî. bissett conducts writers' workshops at the University of Toronto; in 1985-86 was Writer-in-Residence at the University of Western Ontario, and was a participant in the Writer-in-Libraries programme at Woodstock Public Library (1987/88). His latest books are what we have, hard 2 beleev and th influenza uv logik (Talonbooks, 1996).
Grade Levels: all
Fees: standard
Classroom Approach:
Students
should be familiar with his work prior to the visit. He recommends selections
from seagull on yonge street or canada geese mate for life, or
any poem(s) of the teacher's choice. He begins each session with a chant and
then reads from his most recent collection. His readings are broken into sections,
allowing for questions from students. bissett explores with students the unorthodoxies
of his own forms and orthonography, and his use of these expressions as a means
of illustrating the very great freedom available to students in creative writing.