George Bowering

George Bowering
George Bowering
Born	George Harry Bowering; 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

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

References

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

[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.

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v t e Winners of the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction
1930s	Bertram Brooker, Think of the Earth (1936) Laura Salverson, The Dark Weaver (1937) Gwethalyn Graham, Swiss Sonata (1938) Franklin D. McDowell, The Champlain Road (1939)
1940s	Ringuet, Thirty Acres (1940) Alan Sullivan, Three Came to Ville Marie (1941) G. Herbert Sallans, Little Man (1942) Thomas Head Raddall, The Pied Piper of Dipper Creek (1943) Gwethalyn Graham, Earth and High Heaven (1944) Hugh MacLennan, Two Solitudes (1945) Winifred Bambrick, Continental Revue (1946) Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute (1947) Hugh MacLennan, The Precipice (1948) Philip Child, Mr. Ames Against Time (1949)
1950s	Germaine Guèvremont, The Outlander (1950) Morley Callaghan, The Loved and the Lost (1951) David Walker, The Pillar (1952) David Walker, Digby (1953) Igor Gouzenko, The Fall of a Titan (1954) Lionel Shapiro, The Sixth of June (1955) Adele Wiseman, The Sacrifice (1956) Gabrielle Roy, Street of Riches (1957) Colin McDougall, Execution (1958) Hugh MacLennan, The Watch That Ends the Night (1959)
1960s	Brian Moore, The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1960) Malcolm Lowry, Hear Us O Lord from Heaven Thy Dwelling Place (1961) Kildare Dobbs, Running to Paradise (1962) Hugh Garner, Hugh Garner's Best Stories (1963) Douglas LePan, The Deserter (1964) [no award] (1965) Margaret Laurence, A Jest of God (1966) [no award] (1967) Alice Munro, Dance of the Happy Shades (1968) Robert Kroetsch, The Studhorse Man (1969)
1970s	Dave Godfrey, The New Ancestors (1970) Mordecai Richler, St. Urbain's Horseman (1971) Robertson Davies, The Manticore (1972) Rudy Wiebe, The Temptations of Big Bear (1973) Margaret Laurence, The Diviners (1974) Brian Moore, The Great Victorian Collection (1975) Marian Engel, Bear (1976) Timothy Findley, The Wars (1977) Alice Munro, Who Do You Think You Are? (1978) Jack Hodgins, The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne (1979)
1980s	George Bowering, Burning Water (1980) Mavis Gallant, Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories (1981) Guy Vanderhaeghe, Man Descending (1982) Leon Rooke, Shakespeare's Dog (1983) Josef Škvorecký, The Engineer of Human Souls (1984) Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985) Alice Munro, The Progress of Love (1986) M. T. Kelly, A Dream Like Mine (1987) David Adams Richards, Nights Below Station Street (1988) Paul Quarrington, Whale Music (1989)
1990s	Nino Ricci, Lives of the Saints (1990) Rohinton Mistry, Such a Long Journey (1991) Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient (1992) Carol Shields, The Stone Diaries (1993) Rudy Wiebe, A Discovery of Strangers (1994) Greg Hollingshead, The Roaring Girl (1995) Guy Vanderhaeghe, The Englishman's Boy (1996) Jane Urquhart, The Underpainter (1997) Diane Schoemperlen, Forms of Devotion (1998) Matt Cohen, Elizabeth and After (1999)
2000s	Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost (2000) Richard B. Wright, Clara Callan (2001) Gloria Sawai, A Song for Nettie Johnson (2002) Douglas Glover, Elle (2003) Miriam Toews, A Complicated Kindness (2004) David Gilmour, A Perfect Night to Go to China (2005) Peter Behrens, The Law of Dreams (2006) Michael Ondaatje, Divisadero (2007) Nino Ricci, The Origin of Species (2008) Kate Pullinger, The Mistress of Nothing (2009)
2010s	Dianne Warren, Cool Water (2010) Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers (2011) Linda Spalding, The Purchase (2012) Eleanor Catton, The Luminaries (2013) Thomas King, The Back of the Turtle (2014) Guy Vanderhaeghe, Daddy Lenin and Other Stories (2015) Madeleine Thien, Do Not Say We Have Nothing (2016) Joel Thomas Hynes, We'll All Be Burnt in Our Beds Some Night (2017) Sarah Henstra, The Red Word (2018) Joan Thomas, Five Wives (2019)
2020s	Michelle Good, Five Little Indians (2020) Norma Dunning, Tainna (2021) Sheila Heti, Pure Colour (2022) Anuja Varghese, Chrysalis (2023) Jordan Abel, Empty Spaces (2024)

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