Brian Bartlett

Brian Bartlett (born October 1, 1953) is a Canadian poet, essayist, nature writer, and editor. He has published 15 books or chapbooks of poetry, two prose books of nature writing, and a compilation of prose about poetry. He was born in St. Stephen, New Brunswick, and lived in Fredericton from 1957 to 1975. While a high-school student and an undergraduate he attended the informal writers workshop the Ice House (a.k.a. McCord Hall or Tuesday Night); there and elsewhere he benefited from the generosity and friendship of writers such as Nancy and William Bauer, Robert Gibbs, Alden Nowlan, A.G. Bailey, Kent Thompson, Fred Cogswell, David Adams Richards, and Michael Pacey. After completing his B.A. at the University of New Brunswick and shortly before his 22nd birthday, Bartlett moved to Montreal Quebec, and stayed there for 15 years. He completed an M.A. from Concordia University, with a short-story-collection thesis (advisor: Clark Blaise), and a PhD at Université de Montréal (with a dissertation on the poet A.R. Ammons). While living in Montreal, Bartlett worked as a tutor, proofreader, manual laborer, office assistant for an academic journal, and part-time instructor at Concordia University. In 1990 he relocated to Halifax, Nova Scotia to teach Creative Writing and English at Saint Mary's University. https://www.writers.ns.ca/members/profile/24< http://www.stu-acpa.com/brian-bartlett.html

During his final dozen years of teaching, Bartlett edited several other poets' selected works, two compilations of essays on other poets, and the Collected Poems of Alden Nowlan. After 28 years leading workshops in several genres (poetry, non-fiction prose, fiction), teaching fields of literature ranging from Study of Poetry, Study of Short Fiction, 20th-century Poetry, and 19th-century American Prose to Beginnings of Canadian Literature, Contemporary Canadian Poetry, The Writer and Nature, and Canadian Nature Writing, as well as overseeing the Saint Mary's Reading Series, Bartlett retired from teaching in 2018. A long-time dedicated reader of Thoreau, he has given presentations at Thoreau conferences in Concord, Massachusetts and Gothenburg, Sweden. His writing of poetry and prose, and his editing, continue. His wife, Karen Dahl (b. 1963), is a Senior Manager for the Halifax Regional Library system; their children are Josh (b. 1997) and Laura (b. 2000).

Publications

Poetry

• The Afterlife of Trees. Montreal, Quebec: McGill-Queen’s UP, 2002. https://www.mqup.ca/afterlife-of-trees--the-products-9780773519107.php?page_id=73&
• Being Charlie. Vancouver, BC: Alfred Gustav, 2009.
• Brother’s Insomnia. Fredericton, NB: The New Brunswick Chapbooks, 1972.
• Cattail Week. Montreal: Villeneuve, 1981.
• Finches for the Wake. Fredericton, NB: Fiddlehead, 1971.
• Granite Erratics. Victoria: Ekstasis, 1997.
• Keatonesque. Kingston, ON: Thee Hellbox Press, 2017.
• Planet Harbor. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 1989.
• Potato Blossom Road: Seven Montages. Victoria: Ekstasis, 2013. http://www.ekstasiseditions.com/recenthtml/potatoblossom.htm
• Safety Last. Kentville: Gaspereau, 2019.
• Travels of the Watch. Kentville: Gaspereau, 2004.
• Underwater Carpentry. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 1993.
• Wanting the Day: Selected Poems. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2003; Calstock, Cornwall, UK: Peterloo Poets, 2004. https://gooselane.com/products/wanting-the-day?_pos=1&_sid=57cacbae0&_ss=r
• The Watchmaker’s Table. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2008.https://gooselane.com/products/the-watchmakers-table?_pos=3&_sid=9688ce9f8&_ss=r

Prose

• All Manner of Tackle: Living with Poetry. Windsor, ON: Palimpsest Press, 2017. https://palimpsestpress.ca/books/manner-tackle-living-poetry/
• Branches Over Ripples: A Waterside Journal. Kentville, NS: Gaspereau Press, 2017. http://www.gaspereau.com/bookInfo.php?AID=0&AISBN=9781554471782
• Ringing Here & There: A Nature Calendar. Markham, ON: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2014. https://www.fitzhenry.ca/Detail/1554553318
• "'A Many-veined Leaf': Minutiae and Multiplicity in Brian Bartlett's Poetry." Interview. Anne Compton, Meetings with Maritime Poets: Interviews (Markham: Fitzhenry & Whiteside, 2006).
• "Introduction." Charles G. D. Roberts, Red Fox. 1905. Halifax, NS: Formac, 2008. http://www.formac.ca/Book/1365/Red-Fox.html

Edited

• The Child Alone. Brian Bartlett ed. With art work by Laura Bartlett. Victoria, BC: Frog Hollow Press, 2015.
• Collected Poems of Alden Nowlan. Brian Bartlett ed. Fredericton, NB: Icehouse Poetry, 2017. https://gooselane.com/collections/all-books/products/collected-poems-of-alden-nowlan
• Don McKay: Essays on His Works. Brian Bartlett ed. Toronto: Guernica, 2006. https://www.guernicaeditions.com/title/9781550712520
• Earthly Pages: The Poetry of Don Domanski. Brian Bartlett ed. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2007. https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/E/Earthly-Pages2
• The Essential Dorothy Roberts. Brian Bartlett ed. Erin, ON: Porcupine's Quill, 2018. http://porcupinesquill.ca/bookinfo6.php?index=331
• The Essential James Reaney. Brian Bartlett ed. Erin: Porcupine’s Quill, 2009. http://store.porcupinesquill.ca/essential_james_reaney
• The Essential Robert Gibbs. Brian Bartlett ed. Erin: Porcupine's Quill, 2012. http://www.porcupinesquill.ca/bookinfo6.php?index=270

Awards

• Winner of The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize 1992, for "Underwater Carpentry."
• Winner of The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize 1999, for "Hawthornden Improvisations."
• Winner of Petra Kenney International Poetry Prize 2001, for "Foot-doctor for the Homeless."
• Shortlisted for Atlantic Poetry Prize 2003, for The Afterlife of Trees.
• Winner of Atlantic Poetry Prize 2004, for Wanting the Day: Selected Poems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._M._Abraham_Poetry_Award#cite_note-winnerslist-1
• Winner of Acorn-Plantos Award for Poetry's Poetry 2008, for The Watchmaker's Table. 
• Shortlisted for J. M. Abraham Prize for Poetry 2015, for Ringing Here & There: A Nature Calendar.