Brian Brett

Brian Brett
Brett in 2009
Born	(1950-04-28)April 28, 1950 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Died	January 17, 2024(2024-01-17) (aged 73)
Alma mater	Simon Fraser University
Occupation(s)	Poet, novelist

Brian Brett (April 28, 1950 – January 17, 2024) was a Canadian poet, journalist, editor and novelist.^[1] Brett wrote and published extensively, starting in the late 1960s, and he worked as an editor for several publishing firms, including the Governor-General's Award-winning Blackfish Press. He also wrote a three-part memoir of his life in British Columbia.

Brian Brett was born in British Columbia. He grew up with a rare endocrine disorder, Kallmann syndrome, which prevented his body from entering puberty; he later wrote a memoir about the effect this has had on his life.^[2][3] Brett attended Simon Fraser University between 1969 and 1974, studying literature.

Brett began writing in the 1960s. In the early 1970s, he worked as a freelance journalist and critic for The Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star, the Vancouver Sun, The New Reader, Books in Canada, and the Victoria Times-Colonist. He was a poetry critic and columnist for Vancouver's The Province. He also wrote articles for many other newspapers in Canada, and his essays appeared in many magazines. For ten years he wrote a monthly newspaper column called CultureWatch for the Yukon News.

Brett inaugurated the B.C. Poetry-in-the-Schools program, which for several years introduced students to world poetry. He has presented many writing workshops across Canada.

Brett was a member of P.E.N. International and the Federation of BC Writers, and the Writers' Union of Canada. He embarked on a national reading tour organized by the League of Canadian Poets, of which he was also a member.

Brett gave readings of his work on CBC Radio as well at universities, Harbourfront, 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.

In May 2005, Brett became chair of the Writers' Union of Canada.^[4]

In 2004 Brett published a book, Uproar's Your Only Music, about his struggles with Kallmann syndrome.^[2]

In November 2009, Brett 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 insight into the natural history of farming.^[5][6]

In 2016, the Writers' Trust of Canada awarded Brett the Matt Cohen Lifetime Award to honour his body of work.^[7]

Brett lived on his farm on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.^[8] He took testosterone to mitigate the effects of Kallmann syndrome, which included pain and osteoporosis.^[2] Brett died on January 17, 2024, at the age of 73.^[9]

• Fossil Ground at Phantom Creek - 1976
• Smoke Without Exit - 1984
• Evolution in Every Direction - 1987
• The Fungus Garden - 1988
• Tanganyika - 1991
• Poems: New and Selected - 1993
• Allegories of Love and Disaster - 1993
• The Colour of Bones in a Stream - 1998
• Coyote - 2003 ISBN 1-894345-53-3
• Uproar's Your Only Music - 2004 ISBN 1-55096-607-3
• Trauma Farm: A Rebel History of Rural Life - 2009 ISBN 978-1-55365-474-2^[2]
• The Wind River Variations - 2012 ISBN 0889822697
• Tuco: The Parrot, the Others, and a Scattershot World - 2015 ISBN 1771640634^[8]

• Night Directions for the Lost- The Talking Songs of Brian Brett Tongue & Groove Records - 2003
• Talking Songs by Scattered Bodies - 2014

• Poems from Planet Earth, (Poetry), Leaf Press, Winter 2013
• In The Flesh, Twenty Writers Explore the Body, (Essays) Brindle & Glass, ed. by Lynne Van Luven & Kathy Page, 2011
• Measure of the Year, (introduction), by Roderick Haig-Brown, Touchwood Editions, 2011
• The Heart Does Break: Canadian Writers on Grief and Mourning, (Essays) Random House. Ed. By George Bowering and Jean Baird. Random House. 2009
• Open Wide Wilderness: Canadian Nature Poems, Wilfrid Laurier Press, ed. by Nancy Holmes. 2009
• A Verse Map of Vancouver ed. By George McWhirter, Anvil Press, 2009.
• Wild Rivers of the Yukon's Peel Watershed: A Traveller's Guide (Poetry & Prose), Juri Peepre and Sarah Locke, 2008.
• Writing The West Coast, Ronsdale Press, 2008.
• Three Rivers: The Yukon's Great Boreal Wilderness Harbour Publishing, 2005.
• Rendezvous With The Wild Houghton Mifflin, 2004.
• The Eye In The Thicket (Natural History Essays) Thistledown Books 2002.
• Mocambo Nights, ed. by Patrick Lane, Ekstasis Editions, 2001.
• Lost Classics ed. 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 (Poetry & Prose) Douglas & McIntyre.
• Witness To Wilderness (Poetry & Prose), Arsenal Pulp Press, 1994.
• Because You Loved Being A Stranger, (Poems) ed. by Susan Musgrave, Harbour Publishing, 1994.
• Myths & Voices (Short Stories), White Pine Press, U.S.A.,1993.
• The Last Map Is The Heart (Short Stories), Thistledown Books, 1989.
• 15 Years In Exile, Exile, 1992.
• Vancouver Poetry (Poetry), Polestar Press, 1986.
• For Rexroth (Poetry), The Ark, 1980.
• Western Windows (Poetry & Prose), Commcept Publishing Ltd., 1977.
• A Government Job At Last (Poetry), MacLeod Books, 1977.

• Official website
• Brian Brett fonds at University of Victoria, Special Collections
• Archives of Blackfish Press (Blackfish Press, R11707) are held at Library and Archives Canada. Brian Brett is one of the founders of the magazine with Allan Safarik