Read more
bissett latest collection since breth (Talonbooks, 2019), its th sailors life / still in treatment is, using the poet's own words, "an epik poetik novel uv langwage n speech" about acceptance of loss, grief, separations, and characters in search of liberation and social equality.
About the author
originalee from lunaria ovr 300 yeers ago in lunarian time
sent by shuttul thru halifax nova scotia originalee wantid 2
b dansr n figur skatr became a poet n paintr in my longings
after 12 operaysyuns reelee preventid me from following th
inishul direksyuns
-bill bissett
bill bissett garnered international attention in the 1960s as a pre-eminent figure of the counter-culture movement in Canada and the U.K. In 1964, he founded blewointment press, which published the works of bpNichol and Steve McCaffery, among others.
bissett's charged readings, which never fail to amaze his audiences, incorporate sound poetry, chanting and singing, the verve of which is only matched by his prolific writing career. Over seventy books of bissett's poetry have been published. He lives in Toronto.
A pioneer of sound, visual and performance poetry - eschewing the artificial hierarchies of meaning and the privileging of things ("proper" nouns) over actions imposed on language by capital letters; the metric limitations imposed on the possibilities of expression by punctuation; and the illusion of formal transparency imposed on the written word by standard (rather than phonetic) spelling - bissett composes his poems as scripts for pure performance and has consistently worked to extend the boundaries of language and visual image, honing a synthesis of the two in the medium of concrete poetry.
Whether paying tribute to his hometown lunaria or exercising his native tongue dissent, bissett continues to dance upon upon the cutting edge of poetics and performance works.
bill bissett was recently a featured poet on the Heart of a Poet series, produced in conjunction with Bravo! TV.
Among bissett's many awards are: The George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award (2007); BC Book Prizes Dorothy Livesay Prize (2003) peter among th towring boxes / text bites; BC Book Prizes Dorothy Livesay Prize (1993) inkorrect thots.
Summary
A pioneer of sound, visual, and performance poetry, bill bissett composes his poems as scripts for pure performance and has consistently since the 1960s worked to extend the boundaries of language and visual image, honing a synthesis of the two in the medium of concrete poetry. bissett’s latest collection since the monumental breth (Talonbooks, 2019), its th sailors life / still in treatment is, using the poet’s own words, “an epik poetik novel uv langwage n speech” confronting “thos controlling effekts on us” and about “acceptans uv loss greef separaysyuns charaktrs in serch uv self liberaysyun n societal equalitee n all th forces against that path.” Eschewing the artificial hierarchies of meaning and the privileging of things (“proper” nouns) over actions imposed on language by capital letters; the metric limitations imposed on the possibilities of expression by punctuation; and the illusion of formal transparency imposed on the written word by standard (rather than phonetic) spelling, bissett’s expressive assemblages in this collection are “like walking thru sum fne lines.” The poems in this collection are coupled with stunning illustrations by the author.
Foreword
Reviews in national and local media
Paid premium placement in bookstores
Publicity and promotion in conjunction with the author's speaking engagements
Social media campaign: LibraryThing, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads
Promotion on the Talon website (www.talonbooks.com)
