Brian Brett

Brian Brett (born 28 April 1950) is a Canadian poet, journalist, editor and novelist.[1] He has been writing and publishing since the late 1960s, and he has worked as an editor for several publishing firms, including the Governor-General's Award-winning Blackfish Press. He has also written a three-part memoir of his life in British Columbia.

Brian Brett
Canadian writer Brian Brett in July 2009
Born (1950-04-28) 28 April 1950
Alma materSimon Fraser University
Occupationpoet, novelist

Early life

Brett was born in British Columbia. He grew up with a rare endocrine disorder, Kallmann syndrome, which prevented his body from entering puberty; he later wrote a memoir about the effect this has had on his life.[2][3] Brett attended Simon Fraser University between 1969 and 1974, studying literature.

Career

Brett began writing in the 1960s. In the early 1970s, he worked as a freelance journalist and critic for The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Vancouver Sun, The New Reader, Books in Canada, and the Victoria Times-Colonist. He was a poetry critic and columnist for Vancouver's The Province. He also wrote articles for many other newspapers in Canada, and his essays appeared in many magazines. For ten years he wrote a monthly newspaper column called CultureWatch for the Yukon News.

Brett inaugurated the B.C. Poetry-in-the-Schools program, which for several years introduced students to world poetry. He has presented many writing workshops across Canada.

He has been a member of P.E.N. International and the Federation of BC Writers, and the Writers' Union of Canada. He embarked on a national reading tour organized by the League of Canadian Poets, of which he was also a member.

Brett has given reading of his work on CBC Radio as well at universities, Harbourfront, Vancouver International Writers Festival, Saltwater Festival, Sechelt Writers' Festival, Wordfest: Banff Calgary International Writers Festival, the Winnipeg International Writers Festival, National Book Festival, and the Canada Council.

In May 2005, Brett became chair of the Writers' Union of Canada.[4]

In 2004 Brett published a book, Uproar's Your Only Music, about his struggles with Kallmann syndrome.[2]

In November 2009, Brett won Canada's Writers' Trust Non-Fiction Prize for Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life. The book describes a typical day in the life of his farm, with insight into the natural history of farming.[5][6]

In 2016, the Writers' Trust of Canada awarded Brett the Matt Cohen Lifetime Award to honour his body of work.[7]

Personal

Brett lives on his farm on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.[8] He takes testosterone to mitigate the effects of Kallmann syndrome, which include pain and osteoperosis.[2]

Bibliography
  • Fossil Ground at Phantom Creek - 1976
  • Smoke Without Exit - 1984
  • Evolution in Every Direction - 1987
  • The Fungus Garden - 1988
  • Tanganyika - 1991
  • Poems: New and Selected - 1993
  • Allegories of Love and Disaster - 1993
  • The Colour of Bones in a Stream - 1998
  • Coyote - 2003 ISBN 1-894345-53-3
  • Uproar's Your Only Music - 2004 ISBN 1-55096-607-3
  • Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life - 2009 ISBN 978-1-55365-474-2[2]
  • The Wind River Variations - 2012 ISBN 0889822697
  • Tuco: The Parrot, the Others, and a Scattershot World - 2015 ISBN 1771640634[8]

Discography
  • Night Directions for the Lost- The Talking Songs of Brian Brett Tongue & Groove Records - 2003
  • Talking Songs by Scattered Bodies - 2014

Anthologies
  • Poems from Planet Earth, (Poetry), Leaf Press, Winter 2013
  • In The Flesh, Twenty Writers Explore the Body, (Essays) Brindle & Glass, ed. by Lynne Van Luven & Kathy Page, 2011
  • Measure of the Year, (introduction), by Roderick Haig-Brown, Touchwood Editions, 2011
  • The Heart Does Break: Canadian Writers on Grief and Mourning, (Essays) Random House. Ed. By George Bowering and Jean Baird. Random House. 2009
  • Open Wide Wilderness: Canadian Nature Poems, Wilfrid Laurier Press, ed. by Nancy Holmes. 2009
  • A Verse Map of Vancouver ed. By George McWhirter, Anvil Press, 2009.
  • Wild Rivers of the Yukon's Peel Watershed: A Traveller's Guide (Poetry & Prose), Juri Peepre and Sarah Locke, 2008.
  • Writing The West Coast, Ronsdale Press, 2008.
  • Three Rivers: The Yukon's Great Boreal Wilderness Harbour Publishing, 2005.
  • Rendezvous With The Wild Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
  • The Eye In The Thicket (Natural History Essays) Thistledown Books 2002.
  • Mocambo Nights, ed. by Patrick Lane, Ekstasis Editions, 2001.
  • Lost Classics ed. by Ondaatje, Spalding, Redhill (Essays) Anchor Classics, 2001.
  • In The Clear (Fiction & Poetry) Thistledown Books, 1998.
  • What is Already Known (Fiction & Poetry) Thistledown Books, 1995.
  • How I Learned To Speak Dog (Poetry & Prose) Douglas & McIntyre.
  • Witness To Wilderness (Poetry & Prose), Arsenal Pulp Press, 1994.
  • Because You Loved Being A Stranger, (Poems) ed. by Susan Musgrave, Harbour Publishing, 1994.
  • Myths & Voices (Short Stories), White Pine Press, U.S.A.,1993.
  • The Last Map Is The Heart (Short Stories), Thistledown Books, 1989.
  • 15 Years In Exile, Exile, 1992.
  • Vancouver Poetry (Poetry), Polestar Press, 1986.
  • For Rexroth (Poetry), The Ark, 1980.
  • Western Windows (Poetry & Prose), Commcept Publishing Ltd., 1977.
  • A Government Job At Last (Poetry), MacLeod Books, 1977.

References
  1. Brian Brett in The Canadian Encyclopedia.
  2. "Book review: Author Brian Brett shows beak form" Archived 2018-07-14 at the Wayback Machine. Candace Fertile, Vancouver Sun, 10.30.2015
  3. "For the Birds: Brian Brett's Tuco, reviewed". National Post, Philip Marchand, October 15, 2015
  4. "Author Brian Brett heavily criticizes UBC for handling of Galloway case". The Globe and Mail, Marsha Lederman, April 3, 2017
  5. "Check out these 4 books inspired by B.C. island life". CBC News, Aug 09, 2017
  6. "Review: Trauma Farm, by Brian Brett; The War in the Country, by Thomas F. Pawlick". The Globe and Mail, Ingeborg Boyens, October 23, 2009
  7. "Rogers Writers' Trust: Celebrating the 2016 winners". Maclean's, November 3, 2016.
  8. "Brian Brett pens memoir about his pet African grey parrot Tuco". North by Northwest ยท CBC News. Dec 20, 2015
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