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Marmora resident Chris Faiers has been a publishing poet for 40 years.
He was one of the first English-language haiku poets (haijin) to write exclusively outside the artificial constraints of 5-7-5 syllable
counting.
His early haiku were published by Eric Amann in the seminal magazine, Haiku. Faiers has published 17 books of poetry and his work has appeared in
over 30 anthologies and academic works, as well as in over 50 magazines. He has
read his work at Harbourfront in Toronto, and read on CBC TV and BBC radio.
Faiers has also been a groundbreaker in the development of
English-language haibun, narrative prose interspersed with haiku. He lived
for two years in the largest commune in the UK, the Eel Pie Island
Hotel in Twickenham and his online memoir/haibun, Eel Pie Dharma, has been enjoyed by tens of thousands of readers, and
it consistently ranks in Google’s top 15 selections of haibun on the web.
It tells the story of his explorations and adventures in the late
1960s and early 70s.
In 1987, Chris was the
inaugural recipient of the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award for
his book Foot Through the Ceiling (Aya/Mercury Press).
In addition to writing haiku,
Chris founded the literary press, Unfinished Monument, in 1978.
He founded the Main Street Library Poetry Readings the following
year. Chris was also a founding member of The Canadian Poetry
Association, with James Deahl, Shaunt Basmajian and Wayne Ray and a
founding member of Haiku Canada, with Eric Amann, George Swede,
Margaret Saunders and others.
In 1989, Chris moved to the
Kawartha Lakes area of Ontario and worked as the head librarian/CEO
in the village of Stirling for 12 years.
He is currently writing short haibun about his explorations on the wild
trails in north Hastings County, Ontario. He is also busy caretaking ZenRiver Gardens,
his meditation retreat on the upper Moira River. He can be reached at
zenriver@sympatico.ca.
"I like his
poetry." - Beatle George Harrison, Esher, England 1969
"A book by Chris
Faiers is always a joy to behold...." - Herb Barrett in Origins
Magazine on Sleeping Ruins
"Faiers' poetry
illuminates the human condition with a quiet strength." - excerpt of
judges comments, The Milton Acorn People's Poetry Award,
Cross-Canada Writers' Quarterly
For more information on Chris
Faiers,
click here. |