Literary CV

BRIAN CAMPBELL WEB Literary CV

Brian Campbell’s second collection, a book of prose poems entitled Passenger Flight, was published by Signature Editions in Spring, 2009.  His first collection, Guatemala and Other Poems, was published in 1994 by Window Press in Toronto. Undressing the Night, his book-length translation of selected poems of the Nicaraguan-Canadian poet Francisco Santos, was published by Editorial Lunes, Costa Rica in 2006. Campbell’s poems have appeared in numerous literary reviews in Canada, the U.S., and Europe; one was chosen by the British Columbia Ministry of Education for use on its provincial high school exam. He was a finalist in the 2006 CBC Literary Award for Poetry.  In 2011, he was a recipient of a Canada Council creative writing grant towards the completion of a third collection of poetry.

Although primarily a poet, Brian Campbell also writes songs and sets poems to music. The Courtier’s Manuscript, an independent CD, was released in 2002, and The Imaginary Album, a cassette, in 1996.

BOOKS AND AUDIO PRODUCTIONS

(All currently in print)

Passenger Flight Signature Editions, Winnipeg, 2009.  90 p. ISBN 978-1-897109-33-5
Undressing the Night: Selected Poems of Francisco Santos, translated and edited
by Brian Campbell  Editorial Lunes, Heredia, Costa Rica, 2006. 144 p.
ISBN 9968-9542-9-2
Guatemala & Other Poems Window Press, Toronto, 1994. 66 p. ISBN 09696447-1-X
The Courtier’s Manuscript (BeeDeeCee Productions, 2002) audio recording, 74 min.
The Imaginary Album (BeeDeeCee Productions, 1996), 45 minutes.

AWARDS/CITATIONS

Canada Council for the Arts:  Professional Writer’s Creative Writing grant, 2011: $12,000
2006 CBC Literary Award for Poetry:  Finalist
University of Toronto:  Norma Epstein Award for Poetry, l978
Unisong Competition, 2001 (London/Hollywood, CA):  Certificate of Achievement for
To My Whimsical Love (song on The Courtier’s Manuscript)

POEM SELECTED FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA PROVINCIAL EXAM

In 2008, “Emblem”, a poem previously published in the April, 2006 edition of Prairie Fire, was selected by the British Columbia (Canada) Ministry of Education for its provincial English 12 exam.  It will be used up to three times between 2009 and 2014, and as an exam sample on its website until 2016.

POETRY PUBLISHED IN REVIEWS AND ANTHOLOGIES

More than 50 poems published in 40 reviews in print and on line, in Canada, United States and Europe, including Contemporary Verse 2, Saranac Review, Antigonish Review, Vallum, Grain, Prairie Fire, The New Quarterly, Geez, Carve, Dusie, Apparatus, Poetry Quebec, Umbrella, MiPOesias, New Canadian Review, Poetry Canada Review, carte blanche, Nth Position,
The Evergreen Review, and Eclectica; and in the following anthologies: Language Matters: Interviews with 22 Quebec Poets (Signature Editions, 2013), The White Collar Book: Poetry and Prose of Canadian Business Life (ed. Bruce & Carolyn Meyer, Black Moss Press, 2011) After The Mountain: The A.M. Klein Reboot Project (ed. Jason Camlot, Synapse Press, 2011), Leonard Cohen You’re Our Man (Foundation for Public Poetry, 2009), and Continuum: Time, the 4th Dimension (Cranberry Tree Press, 2004.)  Poetry forthcoming in Shy (University of Alberta Press.) Complete publications list on demand.

TRANSLATIONS OF POETRY PUBLISHED IN REVIEWS

Translations of Spanish poetry into English in Indigo, Ruptures, and Free Verse (Resistance Poetry Festival review): poems by Francisco Santos, Carmen Nozal, Marguerita Feliciano, Etnairis Rivera, and Hebe Bonifini.

LITERARY CRITICISM

Book Reviews:
Montreal Review of Books: Christianne Frenette’s After the Red Night (trans. Sheila Fischman) and Yves Engler’s The Black Book of Canadian Foreign Policy.
The Rover: Poetry collections by Robert Creeley, David O’Meara, Katia Grubisic, Phil Hall, Shannon Stewart, Sina Queyras, Gendun Chopel, Thomas James, Angela Hibbs Susan Briscoe, Kenneth Sherman and of the anthology Jailbreaks:  99 Canadian Sonnets (ed. Zachariah Wells)
The Pacific Rim Review of Books: Barbara Pelman’s One Stone
Essay:
Rock Salt Plum Review, Spring 2006:  “Can Poetry Matter – 15 Years After”, a 4,000 word commentary on reactions over the past decade and a half to Dana Gioia’s seminal 1991 article, “Can Poetry Matter?”

EDITING/PUBLISHING

Sky of Ink Press
Founded in 2006 with fellow Montreal poet Raphael Bendahan, Sky of Ink’s mission is to publish quality chapbooks by Montreal poets. Campbell and Bendahan share editing, book design and publishing responsibilities. Chapbooks include:

Nina Bruck, Still Light at Five O’clock.  25 pages, 300 copies, © 2007
Winner of the 2008 Writer’s Circle of Durham Region Poetry Chapbook Challenge
Nina Bruck was interviewed and read from Still Light on CBC Radio 1, The Sunday Edition (host: Michael Enright), and was featured on CBC TV’s Montreal Matters.
Jocelyne Dubois, Hot Summer Night. 35 pages, 100 copies, © 2008
Raphael Bendahan, Sit Up.  25 pages, © 2011

BLOG

Besides his own web page, Brian Campbell has maintained a literary blog, Out of the Woodwork, primarily devoted to a discussion of contemporary poetry and poetics, since September, 2004. In over a thousand posts to date, poems are cited and critiqued, books reviewed, articles quoted, with occasional forays into contemporary art, film, dance, music, politics, etc. Out Of The Woodwork has received over 100,000 visits; over its lifetime, it has had approximately 50 regular readers. See links list below.

ASSOCIATIONS

League of Canadian Poets (LCP)
Full Member: 1994-8; 2003- Present
2011- Present: Membership Committee (evaluate applications for full membership).  As of
April, 2013, Membership Committee Chairman.
2006 – 2009:  Quebec/Nunavut Representative on National Council

Quebec Writer’s Federation (QWF)
Writer Member, 2003- Present; Approved Writer, Writers-in-CEGEPs Program
Gives lectures on creative writing and conducts poetry workshops for honoraria
in CEGEPs, the system of pre-university colleges in the province of Quebec

Literary Translator’s Association of Canada (LTAC) Member:  2007 – present
PEN Canada:  Writer Member (Free Expression Circle) 2011– present

FEATURED READINGS

Brian Campbell has been featured at many reading venues in Canada and the USA. A number of these readings have been supported by the Canada Council through the Canadian League of Poets.  Venues include The Art Bar Poetry Series, Grossman’s Tavern, The Brunswick House, Gallery No, and La Festival de la palabra y de la imagen (York University) in Toronto; the Yellow Door and Visual Arts Centre Reading Series, Poetry Plus (Arts Café), and Noches de Poesía in Montreal;  Woolwich Arms Poetry & Music in Guelph, Ontario; The University of Winnipeg, and Emily Glen’s in New York City. As LCP Quebec/Nunavut representative, he organized and hosted the 2007, 2008, and 2009 LCP Quebec (W)Rites of Spring Readings in Montreal.

RADIO AND TELEVISION APPEARANCES

In June, 2008 Brian Campbell was interviewed and read a poem, “Bringing Summer to The Rock”, on the St. John’s Morning Show, CBC Radio One, in connection with the LCP Festival and Conference.  In addition, he has given interviews, read and performed poetry and music on campus and community radio: on Simply Speaking and Arts Notebook (CINQ) and SonArt (CKUT) in Montreal and Howl on CKLN in Toronto.  In 2007, he was interviewed on CBC TV’s Montreal Matters in a feature on Nina Bruck’s Still Light at Five O’clock.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: CONFERENCES/WORKSHOPS

Sage Hill Writing Experience: Poetry Workshop, Summer 2012, led by Ken Babstock
League of Poets AGM/Poetry Fest:  1994, 2004, 2006-9, 2011.
Participant:  QWF Poetry Workshop, Fall, 2004, led by Susan Gillis

WORKSHOPS GIVEN

Collège Montmorency, Laval, Quebec (QWF Writers in the CEGEPs Program) Oct. 2, 2007
Lauren Hill Academy, Montreal (LCP National Poetry Month Program) April 28, 2007

EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND AND OCCUPATION

Born in Toronto, Canada, Brian Campbell graduated (with distinction) with an Honours B.A. in English, University of Toronto, 1980.  He completed a Diploma in Education at McGill University, Montreal, 1991.

Currently Brian Campbell teaches English Language Acquisition as well as Academic English at the English Montreal School Board. He also does freelance commercial translation from French to English.

WEB LINKS

Website
Out Of The Woodwork, literary blog
Sky of Ink, a selection of poems previously published in print reviews
Jonah, a webpage with the dramatic monologue Jonah from Guatemala and Other Poems
Undressing the Night, a website devoted to discussion of the translation of poems by Francisco Santos.