George Harry Bowering, (born December 1, 1935) is a prolific Canadian novelist, poet, historian, and biographer. He was the first Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate.
Life and career Bowering was born in Penticton, British Columbia, and raised in the nearby town of Oliver, where his father was a high-school chemistry teacher.
Bowering lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is Professor Emeritus at Simon Fraser University, where he worked for 30 years. Never having written as an adherent of organized religion, he in the past wryly described himself as a Baptist agnostic. In 2002, Bowering was appointed the first ever Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate. That same year, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 2004.
When the Indian Hungryalist, also known as Hungry generation, poet Malay Roy Choudhury, was arrested at Kolkata, India, Bowering brought out a special issue of Imago for helping the Indian poet in his trial.
Bowering was one of the judges for the 2008 Griffin Poetry Prize.
Bibliography
Novels 1967: Mirror on the Floor, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart; Vancouver: Anvil Press, 2014 1973: Fiddler's Night, Vancouver: Dos Equis 1977: A Short Sad Book, Vancouver: Talonbooks; Vancouver: New Star Books, 2017 1980: Burning Water, Toronto: Musson Book Company; Vancouver: New Star Books, 2007 French edition: En eaux troubles, translated by L.-Philippe Hébert, Montreal: Quinze, 1982 1988: Caprice, Toronto/New York: Penguin; Vancouver: New Star Books, 2010 1990: Harry's Fragments, Vancouver: Talonbooks 1994: Shoot!, Toronto: Key Porter Books; Vancouver: New Star Books, 2008 1998: Piccolo Mondo (with Angela Bowering, Michael Matthews & David Bromige), Toronto: Couch House Books 2012: Pinboy, Toronto: Cormorant Books 2015: Writing the Okanagan, Vancouver: Talonbooks 2018: No One, Toronto: ECW Press
Short fiction 1974: Flycatcher and Other Stories, Ottawa: Oberon Press 1977: Concentric Circles, Windsor: Black Moss Press 1978: Protective Footwear, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart 1983: A Place to Die, Ottawa: Oberon Press 1994: The Rain Barrel, Vancouver: Talonbooks 2004: Standing on Richards, Toronto: Viking, the title story was reprinted in 2005 in Vancouver Stories: West Coast Fiction from Canada's Best Writers. Vancouver: Raincoast Books. 2009: The Box, Vancouver: New Star Books 2015: Ten Women, Vancouver: Anvil Press
Young adult fiction
1994: Parents from Space, Montreal: Roussan 1998: Diamondback Dog, Montreal: Roussan 2015: Attack of the Toga Gang, Toronto: Dancing Cat Books
Book-length poems
1967: Baseball, Toronto: Coach House Books 1970: George, Vancouver, Kitchener, Weed/Flower 1971: Geneve, Toronto: Coach House Books 1972: Autobiology, Vancouver: New Star Books, 1972; Vancouver, Pooka Press, 2006 1972: Curious, Toronto: Coach House Books 1974: At War With the U.S., Vancouver: Talonbooks 1976: Allophanes, Toronto: Coach House Books 1982: Ear Reach, Vancouver: Alcuin 1984: Kerrisdale Elegies, Toronto: Coach House Books; Vancouver, Pooka Press, 2008; Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2008 Italian edition: Elegie di Kerrisdale, translated by Annalisa Goldoni, Rome: Edizioni Empiria, 1996 2000: His Life: a poem, Toronto: ECW Press 2010: My Darling Nellie Grey, Vancouver: Talonbooks 2019: Taking Measures, Vancouver: Talonbooks
Collections of poems (including gathered long poems)
1963: Sticks & Stones, Vancouver: Tishbooks; Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1989 1964: Points on the Grid, Toronto: Contact Press 1965: The Man in Yellow Boots/ El hombre de las botas amarillas, Mexico: Ediciones El Corno 1966: The Silver Wire, Kingston, Quarry Press 1969: Rocky Mountain Foot, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart 1969: The Gangs of Kosmos, Toronto: House of Anansi Press 1971: Touch: selected poems 1960-1969, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart 1974: In the Flesh, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart 1976: The Catch, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart 1976: Poem & Other Baseballs, Windsor: Black Moss Press 1977: The Concrete Island, Montreal: Véhicule Press 1979: Another Mouth, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart 1981: Particular Accidents: selected poems, Vancouver: Talonbooks 1982: West Window: selected poetry, Toronto: General 1982: Smoking Mirror, Edmonton: Longspoon 1985: Seventy-One Poems for People, Red Deer: RDC Press 1986: Delayed Mercy & other poems, Toronto: Coach House Books 1992: Urban Snow, Vancouver: Talonbooks 1993: George Bowering Selected: Poems 1961-1992, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart 1997: Blonds on Bikes, Vancouver: Talonbooks 2004: Changing on the Fly, Vancouver, Polestar Press 2006: Vermeer's Light: Poems 1996-2006, Vancouver, Talonbooks 2013: Teeth: Poems 2006-2011, Toronto: Mansfield Press 2015: The World, I Guess, Vancouver: New Star Books 2018: Some End, Vancouver: New Star Books
Criticism
1970: Al Purdy, Toronto: Copp Clark 1971: Robert Duncan: an Interview, Toronto: Coach House/Beaver Kosmos 1979: Three Vancouver Writers, Toronto: Open Letter/Coach House 1982: A Way With Words, Ottawa: Oberon Press 1983: The Mask in Place, Winnipeg: Turnstone Press 1985: Craft Slices, Ottawa: Oberon Press 1988: Errata, Red Deer: RDC Press 1988: Imaginary Hand, Edmonton: NeWest Press 2005: Left Hook, Vancouver: Raincoast Books 2010: Horizontal Surfaces, Toronto: BookThug 2012: Words, Words, Words, Vancouver: New Star Books 2019: Writing and Reading, Vancouver: New Star Books
Chapbooks
1967: How I Hear Howl, Montreal: Beaver Kosmos 1969: Two Police Poems, Vancouver: Talonbooks 1972: The Sensible, Toronto: Massasauga 1973: Layers 1-13, Kitchener: Weed/Flower 1977: In Answer, Vancouver: William Hoffer 1980: Uncle Louis, Toronto: Coach House Books 1985: Spencer & Groulx, Vancouver: William Hoffer 1991: Quarters, Prince George: Gorse Press (Winner, bp Nichol chapbook award 1991) 1992: Do Sink, Vancouver: Pomflit (Winner, bp Nichol chapbook award, 1992). 1992: Sweetly, Vancouver: Wuz 1997: Blondes on Bikes, Ottawa: Above Ground 1998: A, You're Adorable, Ottawa: Above Ground 2000: 6 Little Poems in Alphabetical Order, Calgary: House Press 2001: Some Writers, Calgary: House Press 2002: Joining the Lost Generation, Calgary: House Press 2004: Lost in the Library, Ellsworth, ME: Backwoods Broadsides 2005: Rewriting my Grandfather, Vancouver: Nomados 2006: Crows in the Wind, Toronto: BookThug 2006: A Knot of Light, Calgary: No Press 2007: Montenegro 1966, Calgary: No Press 2007: U.S. Sonnets, Vancouver: Pooka Press 2007: Eggs in There, Edmonton: Rubicon 2007: Some Answers, Mt. Pleasant, ON: LaurelReed Books 2007: Horizontal Surfaces, Edmonton: Olive Collective 2007: Tocking Heads, Edmonton: above/ground 2008: There Then, Prince George: Gorse Press 2008: Animals, Beasts, Critters, Vancouver: JB Objects 2008: Valley, Calgary: No Press 2008: Fulgencio, Vancouver: Nomados 2008: According to Brueghel, North Vancouver: Capilano 2008: Shall I Compare, Penticton: Beaver Kosmos 2009: A Little Black Strap, St. Paul: Unarmed 2013: Los Pájaros de Tenacatita, Ootischenia: Nose-in-Book 2016: Sitting in Jalisco, Ootischenia: Nose-in-Book 2016: That Toddlin Town, Ottawa: above/ground books 2019: David in Byzantium, Cobourg: Proper Tales Press
Memoirs
1993: The Moustache: Memories of Greg Curnoe, Toronto: Coach House Books 2001: A Magpie Life, Toronto: Key Porter 2002: Cars, Toronto: Coach House Books 2006: Baseball Love, Vancouver: Talonbooks 2011: How I Wrote Certain of my Books, Toronto: Mansfield Press 2016: The Hockey Scribbler, Toronto: ECW Press 2016: The Dad Dialogues (with Charles Demers), Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press
History 1996: Bowering's B.C., Toronto: Viking 1999: Also published in 2000 by Penguin. . . 2003: Stone Country, Toronto: Viking
Plays
1962: "The Home for Heroes", Vancouver: Prism 1966: "What Does Eddie Williams Want?", Montreal: CBC-TV 1972: "George Vancouver", Vancouver: CBC radio network 1973: "Sitting in Mexico", Vancouver: CBC radio network 1986: "Music in the Park", Vancouver: CBC radio network 1989: "The Great Grandchildren of Bill Bissett's Mice", Vancouver: CBC radio network
Editions
The 1962 Poems of R.S. Lane, Toronto: Ganglia Press, 1965 Vibrations: poems of youth, Toronto, Gage, 1970 The Story so Far, Toronto, Coach House, 1972 The City in her Eyes by David Cull, Vancouver: Vancouver Community Press, 1972 Imago Twenty, Vancouver, Talonbooks, 1974 Cityflowers by Artie Gold, Montreal: Delta Canada, 1974 Letters from Geeksville: letters from Red Lane 1960-64, Prince George: Caledonia Writing Series, 1976 Great Canadian Sports Stories, Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1979 Fiction of Contemporary Canada, Toronto: Coach House Books, 1980 Loki is Buried at Smoky Creek: selected poems of Fred Wah, Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1981 My Body was Eaten by Dogs: selected poems of David McFadden, Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, New York: CrossCountry, 1981 "1945-1980," in Introduction to Poetry: British, American, Canadian, David and Lecker, Toronto: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1981 The Contemporary Canadian Poem Anthology, Toronto: Coach House Books, 1983 Sheila Watson and The Double Hook: the artist and her critics, Ottawa: Golden Dog Press, 1984 Taking the Field:the best of baseball fiction, Red Deer: RDC Press, 1990 Likely Stories: a postmodern sampler (with Linda Hutcheon), Toronto: Coach House Books, 1992 An H in the Heart: Selected works of bpNichol (with Michael Ondaatje), Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1994 And Other Stories, Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2001 The 2008 Griffin Poetry Prize Anthology, Toronto: House of Anansi, 2008 The Heart Does Break (with Jean Baird), Toronto: Random House, 2009
Editor
Tish, Vancouver, 1961–63 Imago, Calgary, London, Montreal, Vancouver, 1964-1974 Beaver Kosmos Folios, Calgary, London, Montreal, Vancouver, 1966–75.
About
A Record of Writing: an annotated and Illustrated Bibliography of George Bowering by Roy Miki, Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1989 Essays on Canadian Writing, George Bowering issue ed. Ken Norris, 1989 George Bowering: Bright Circles of Colour by Eva-Marie Kroller, Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1992 George Bowering and His Works by John Harris, Toronto: ECW Press, 1992 71 (+) for GB ed. Jean Baird, David McFadden and George Stanley, Vancouver/Toronto: (printed at) Coach House Books, 2005 He Speaks Volumes: A Biography of George Bowering by Rebecca Wigod, Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018
References
External links Author's website George Bowering at the Parliament of Canada website George Bowering's entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia Griffin Poetry Prize biography Griffin Poetry Prize reading, including video clip The Holy Life of the Intellect link provides transcription & audio for an essay Bowering first read on National Public Radio (NPR) "Weekend Edition" on August 19, 2007 Canadian Poetry Online: George Bowering - Biography and 6 poems (Van. Can., Hillside Sun, Musing on Some Poets, Wolf Between the Trees, There is, How Odd Men Are Really) Judith Fitzgerald and George Bowering in an Excellent Conversation on Poetry & Poetics Archives of George Bowering (George Bowering fonds, R11712) are held at Library and Archives Canada