Colin Morton

Born in Toronto, Colin Morton grew up in Alberta where he completed an MA in English in 1979. He works as a teacher, editor, and writer in many media and has performed and recorded his poetry with First Draft and other music poetry groups, as well as in the animated film Primiti Too Taa. Also a novelist, he has been writer-in-residence at Concordia College in Minnesota (1995-96) and at Connecticut College (1997).

Awards
CBC Radio Literary Competition, third prize, poetry 1984.
Archibald Lampman Award, 1986.
ASIFA East Film Festival, New York, best soundtrack, 1988.
National Educational Film and Video Festival, bronze apple, 1988.
Short Grain Contest, second prize, 1989 (prose poem), 1990 (postcard fiction).
Jane Jordan Poetry Contest, third prize, 1991.
Nepean Library Short Story Contest, second prize, 1993.
Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry, 2001.

Selected Publications
In Transit. (Thistledown Press, 1981).
This Won't Last Forever. (Longspoon Press, 1985).
Word/Music (cassette, with First Draft). (Underwhich Editions, 1986).
North/South (with A. McClure and S. McMaster). (Underwhich Editions, 1987).
The Merzbook: Kurt Schwitters Poems. (Quarry Press, 1987).
Two Decades: From A Century of Inventions. (Ouroboros, 1987).
Primiti Too Taa (poetry film). (Teeswater Animation, 1987).
How to Be Born Again. (Quarry Press, 1992).
Coastlines of the Archipelago. (BuschekBooks, 2000).

Selected Anthologies
Capital Poets. (Ouroboros, 1989).
In the Clear . (Thistledown Press, 1998).
Vintage'94. (Quarry Press, 1995).

Books in Print
Morton, Colin
How to Be Born Again. Quarry Press, 1992. $11.95 ISBN: 1-55082-036-2.
Oceans Apart. Quarry Press, 1995.

Colin Morton, 40 Grove Av, Ottawa ON K1S 3A6, (613) 730-1055,
cmorton@sympatico.ca
http://www3.sympatico.ca/cmorton/

 

Poet in the School
(Ottawa)

phone: 613-730-1055

email: cmorton@sympatico.ca

Morton writes poetry and fiction and has performed widely with the intermedia group First Draft. His writing has won several awards including third prize for poetry in the CBC Literary Competition. He edited Capital Poets: An Ottawa Anthology and co-produced the animated sound-poetry film Primiti Too Taa. Morton's books include How To Be Born Again, The Merzbook, This Won't Last Forever, and In Transit. A former special education teacher and scriptwriter for educational TV, he has conducted high school, university and adult writing workshops in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec.

Grade Levels: 9 - OAC

Fees: standard

Classroom Approach:
Morton's approach varies with the size and level of the class, but it usually includes some reading of his own work and discussion of how and why poems are written. Ideally, students should have read some of his poetry or else have written poems of their own they would like to read and discuss. In-class writing exercises often produce surprising results. Morton sometimes shows a film or video to illustrate further possibilities of performance.