About me

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Academic:

My academic writing explores the history of 19th, 20th, and 21st century avant-garde writing in/against Canada. I am particularly interested in the ways that authors and interdisciplinary artists have turned to text in order to radically disrupt some aspect of the world around them. But what comes first: a liberated consciousness in an unliberated world, or a liberated world that will open up the possibility of liberated consciousness? I did my undergraduate at Queen’s University (1998), my master’s at the University of Victoria (2000), and my doctorate at York University (2005). I did a short SSHRC post-doctoral fellowship at Queen’s University, before being hired at Brock University in 2006.

Creative:

My creative writing explores the limits of authorship in late capitalism, the limits of expression within the house of language, and the boundaries between self, other, and alien (the radical other). House Press in Calgary, Alberta published my first poem in 1999 (an anagrammatic translation of bpNichol), and my first chapbook of poetry in 2001. Since then, my poems have appeared in hundreds of journals and anthologies in many different countries. I have ten books out, and an eleventh on the way.

Contact me: gbetts@brocku.ca