George Bowering

George Harry Bowering, OC OBC (born December 1, 1935) is a prolific Canadian novelist, poet, historian, and biographer. He was the first Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate.

He was born in Penticton, British Columbia, and raised in the nearby town of Oliver, where his father was a high-school chemistry teacher. Bowering is author of more than 100 books.

Bowering is the best-known of a group of young poets including Frank Davey, Fred Wah, Jamie Reid, and David Dawson who studied together at the University of British Columbia in the 1950s. There they founded the journal TISH. 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 has 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
• 2009: The Box, Vancouver: New Star Books
• 2015: Ten Women, Vancouver: Anvil Press

YA Fiction

• 1994: Parents from Space, Montreal: Roussan
• 1998: Diamondback Dog, Montreal: Roussan
• 2015: Attack of the Toga Gang, Toronto: Dancing Cat Books

Booklength Poems

• 1967: Baseball, Toronto: Coach House Books
• 1970: George,Vancouver, Kitchener, Weed/Flower
• 1971: Geneve, Toronto: Coach House Books
• 1972: Autobiology, Vancouver: New Star, 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: Vehicule 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: Bowering, George (1999). Egotists and Autocrats: The Prime Ministers of Canada. Toronto, New York City: Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-88081-2. OCLC 45066615. Also published in 2000 by Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-027550-6. OCLC 44545832.
• 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

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