Brian Brett

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Brian Brett, Photo: Michael Schoenholtz, 2009

Brian Thomas Brett (* 28. April 1950 in Vancouver , British Columbia ) is a Canadian writer and poet was able to win various prestigious Canadian literary awards such as 2009 to The Writers 'Trust Prize for Nonfiction , 2010 the Bill Duthie Booksellers' Choice Award and in 2012 the Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence . He was also chairman of the Writers' Union of Canada .

Life

Brian Thomas Brett was born in East Vancouver in 1950 to modest immigrants of Cockney and Italian backgrounds. His father was a one-legged soup kitchen driver. Brian Brett studied English literature at Simon Fraser University from 1969 to 1974. Brett has been writing and publishing since the late 1960s, and is also involved as an editor at various publishing houses, including the Governor-General's Award winner Blackfish Press. He founded this publishing house in 1970 together with his college friend Alan Safarik. Blackfish Press published the literary magazine Blackfish, illustrated and literary books by FR Scott , Earle Birney and Dorothy Livesay .

In the early 1970s he began working as a freelance journalist and literary critic for a variety of publications and daily newspapers including The Globe and Mail , Toronto Star , Vancouver Sun , The New Reader , Books in Canada , Victoria Times-Colonist, and Vancouver -based The Province . At the latter newspaper, the literary critic in charge of poetry was for two years and had his own column . His journalistic work has appeared in almost every major daily newspaper in Canada and his essay has appeared in most of the major literary magazines. He currently writes a monthly newspaper column called Culture Watch for Yukon News .

Brett opened the Poetry-in-the-Schools program in British Columbia that introduces school children to the world of poetry for some time, and taught at workshops for creative writing throughout Canada and was Writer in Residence in Whistler. He is a member of a number of organizations from PEN International , the League of Canadian Poets, the Federation of BC Writers, to the Writers' Union of Canada . As a member of the League of Canadian Poets, he conducted a national lecture tour under their auspices. He has also given readings on CBC Radio and various other media as well as public readings by private organizations, universities, the Harbourfront, the 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 were hosted.

In May 2005, Brian Brett was elected Chairman of the Writers' Union of Canada. In this role, he was particularly committed to the rights of authors and Canadian culture, combating literary censorship and supporting regional bookstores and publishing. Since 2006 he has been teaching creative writing to students around the world through a distance learning degree program from the University of British Columbia .

Although Brett writes in different genres, he is best known as a poet. His first collection of poems, Fossil Ground at Phantom Creek (1976), was published by Blackfish Press. Since then he has written and published various other collections of poetry, including Monsters (1981), Smoke Without Exi t (1984), and Evolution in Every Direction (1987). His work New and Selected was nominated for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 1993.

Uproar's Your Only Music (2004) was a compilation of poems and prose texts in which Brett reflected that he was born an androgynous personality. This work was book of the year for the major national Canadian daily newspaper The Globe and Mail . Various of Brett's poems were adapted and recorded on CD under the title Night Directions for the Lost: The Talking Songs of Brian Brett and released with the help of the Saltspring Collective.

The writer also wrote three fictional works: The Fungus Garden (1988), a political allegory in the form of a science fiction novel , examines the artist's position in society. This was followed by Tanganyika (1991), a collection of thirteen short stories . Brett's complex work Coyote (2003) is to a certain extent “meta-fiction” in that the author has merged various genre characteristics from thriller, horror, comedy and mystery into a story about a serial killer, an eco- terrorist and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police .

Brian Brett has won various literary prizes, including The Writers 'Trust Prize for Nonfiction, the CBC poetry prize, the and the BC Book Prize (Booksellers' Choice).

In his 2004 memoir, Uproar's Your Only Music , of which he was edited by Margaret Atwood , Brett wrote about growing up under the strain of a rare genetic hormonal disorder known as Kallmann syndrome . This disease means that the body did not produce any sex hormones , that it developed osteoporosis at an early age , was exposed to extreme fluctuations in mood and suffered from anosmia . Even at the age of 20, Brian Brett had not yet shown any manifestations of puberty , so that his parents and his doctors in charge up to now believed in him in a form of intersexuality. Only then was the valid diagnosis made, after which he took testosterone to counteract the side effects of his illness. Then he started to grow in height even at the age of 20 and due to the lifelong use of testosterone he gained from 77 to 115 kg.

He himself summarized his experiences in the following way: “Like Teresias, I've seen glimpses of the female and the male in one body - and the intersex, the middlesex, the hermaphrodite, or whatever you want to call it. They are astonishing. And although I don't believe these glimpses gave me any more wit or intelligence or prophecy, they did give me a varied perspective. ”Fatally, shortly before the publication of his memoirs, the author was verbally harassed by a female faction within the Canadian Writers' Association According to Audrey Thomas, he allegedly could not empathize with the female soul and its torments. Brett replied that she would be surprised at how much he could do this, but couldn't elaborate on it at the time.

He lives with his partner Sharon on a farm on Saltspring Island , British Columbia, forms clay sculptures and works with agricultural cooperatives and cultural brainstorming experts as a strong advocate for local food supplies and gentle farming methods, which is reflected in his award-winning book Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life .

In November 2009, the writer 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 insights into the natural history of agriculture. The jury called the book “a lively, well-researched blend of memoir and socio-political commentary; a rare celebration of youth, age, and the tumultuous, surprising journey between them. "

2012 it chose the jury, among other things, George Bowering and Max Wyman included, the winner of the also to the BC Book Prizes belonging Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence both Brian Brett's special contribution to the development of literary quality in British Columbia to and to highlight the substantial part of his literary oeuvre during his literary career to date.

review

  • "Brian Brett's memoir Uproar's Your Only Music (2004) reads like a Canadian suburban equivalent of Jerzy Kozinski 's The Painted Bird, a harrowing tale of survival that elicits both admiration and sympathy."
  • "Trauma Farm is an eccentric but important contribution to BC bookshelves. The beauty of the book is that there are people like Brett living in the province and making a living on the edge, yet finding their center in the mundane. For the reader who wants a historical portrait of the small farm, this book will not fill the bill; however, for those open to the ramblings and ruminations of the eccentric farmer on British Columbia's economic and social fringe, Trauma Farm captures the meaning and message of West Coast existence. "
  • "Trauma Farm is not your standard memoir that follows a chronological timeline. Nor is it a rural story populated with quaint country characters à la Wingfield Farm. Rather, Brett distills 18 years of experience and observations of rural life into a single day. And setting the tone for this often raucous book, he begins that day with a predawn, moonlit walk clad only in gumboots. Brett hangs meditations of farm life, observations on biology and botany, and musings about the modern world on this Joycean structure. His writing is so vivid, the observations so telling, that a reader can virtually feel the smooth heft of a collected egg in the palm of a hand or hear the goofy, honking dawn call of the peacock. "
  • "Trauma Farm reads almost as an invitation, a provocation, to make the natural, rooted, harmonious existence our own in whatever small ways we can. It is a striking, stunning book, easily one of the best of the year. "

plant

Prose and poetry

Discography

  • Night Directions for the Lost- The Talking Songs of Brian Brett. Tongue & Groove Records, 2003.
  • He is a robot. 2009.

Anthologies

  • Open Wide Wilderness: Canadian Nature Poems , Wilfrid Laurier Press, edited by Nancy Holmes. 2009.
  • A Verse Map of Vancouver published by George McWhirter, Anvil Press, 2009.
  • Wild Rivers of the Yukon's Peel Watershed: A Traveller's Guide (Poems & Prose), Juri Peepre and Sarah Locke, 2008.
  • Writing The West Coast , Ronsdale Press, 2008.
  • Three Rivers: The Yukon's Great Boreal Wilderness Harbor Publishing, 2005.
  • Rendezvous With The Wild Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
  • The Eye In The Thicket (essay on natural history) Thistledown Books 2002.
  • Mocambo Nights , edited by Patrick Lane, Ekstasis Editions, 2001.
  • Lost Classics edited 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 (Poems & Prose) Douglas & McIntyre.
  • Witness To Wilderness (Poetry & Prose), Arsenal Pulp Press, 1994.
  • Because You Loved Being A Stranger , (poems) edited by Susan Musgrave, Harbor Publishing, 1994.
  • Myths & Voices (Short Stories), White Pine Press, USA, 1993.
  • The Last Map Is The Heart (short stories), Thistledown Books, 1989.
  • 15 Years In Exile , Exile, 1992.
  • Vancouver Poetry (poems), Polestar Press, 1986.
  • For Rexroth (poems), The Ark, 1980.
  • Western Windows (Poems & Prose), Commcept Publishing Ltd., 1977.
  • A Government Job At Last (Poems), MacLeod Books, 1977.

Awards and nominations

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Author and farmer Brian Brett wins BC literary honor. On: CBC News. April 25, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/winners/details/brian-brett/
  3. ^ Member profile on the pages of the Writers' Union of Canada . Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  4. ↑ Terry Glavin : Brian Brett spills blood, joy, potatoes, hormones. In: Straight. April 21, 2005. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ a b c d e Brian Busby: Brian Brett ( English, French ) In: The Canadian Encyclopedia . Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  6. ↑ http://www.brianbrett.ca/writings/ync-carlsbad.html
  7. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated August 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wier.ca
  8. ^ A month with Brian Brett. October 18, 2010. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  9. ↑ www.brianbrett.ca
  10. ↑ See Michael Geist : Brian Brett Speaks Out: An Open Letter on Access Copyright and the Canadian Copyright Emergency. On: www.michaelgeist.ca. June 26, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  11. ^ Brian Brett: An open letter on Access Copyright and the Canadian copyright emergency. In: Straight. June 26, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  12. ↑ a b c Brian Brett on abcbookworld . Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  13. ↑ The Writers' Trust of Canada 2009 Non-fiction Prize ( Memento of the original from October 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.writerstrust.com
  14. ↑ http://www.bcbookprizes.ca/winners/2012#lieutenant
  15. ↑ Review: Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life by Brian Brett ( Memento of the original from January 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . On: BC Studies. no.167, Fall 2010, The British Columbia Quartely Studies. Retrieved July 5, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / bcstudies.com
  16. ↑ Ingeborg Boyens: Reviewed here: Trauma Farm, by Brian Brett; The War in the Country, by Thomas F. Pawlick. In: The Globe and Mail . October 23, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2012.
  17. ^ National Post . Quoted from: http://library.stanford.edu/saroyan/brett.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / library.stanford.edu  
  18. ↑ http://library.stanford.edu/saroyan/brett.html  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / library.stanford.edu  
  19. ↑ Tracy Sherlock: BC author Brian Brett gets Lieutenant-Governor's prize.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Vancouver Sun . April 24, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2012.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.vancouversun.com  
personal data
SURNAME Brett, Brian
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brett, Brian Thomas (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian writer, poet, and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH April 28, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Vancouver , British Columbia