George Bowering

George Bowering
Born	George Harry Bowering (1935-12-01) December 1, 1935 (age 89) Penticton, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation	Novelist poet historian biographer
Website
georgebowering.com

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. ^[1]

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. ^[2] 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. ^[3] That same year, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. ^[4] 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. ^[5]

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

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: 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

References

1. "George Bowering". The Poetry Foundation. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
2. "George Bowering". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
3. "The Parliamentary Poet Laureate". lop.parl.ca. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
4. "Mr. George Bowering". The Governor General of Canada. Retrieved 2025-03-15.
5. Ryukan (2014-01-27). "Getting to Know Cascadian Poets". Cascadia Poetics LAB. Retrieved 2025-03-15.

External links

• Author's website
• George Bowering at the Parliament of Canada website Archived 2012-10-18 at the Wayback Machine
• 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 Archived 2011-05-14 at the Wayback Machine - 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 Archived 2011-02-09 at the Wayback Machine
• Archives of George Bowering (George Bowering fonds, R11712) are held at Library and Archives Canada

Preceded by None	Parliamentary Poet Laureate 2002–2004	Succeeded by Pauline Michel