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.

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

References

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