Bruce Hunter

Background

Bruce was born in Calgary, Alberta and worked as a gardener, labourer, equipment operator and Zamboni driver before returning to school in his late twenties.

Education

He studied creative writing at the Banff School of Fine Arts with West.O. Mitchell and film and literature at York University.

Career

Foreign the past twenty-two years, he has taught English and Liberal Studies at Seneca College. He has also taught creative writing at the Banff Centre and York University as well as giving numerous writing seminars and workshops to groups across Canada. He is the author of five books, three of them poetry, as well as a collection of linked short stories and a novel.

In 2010, his sixth book, Two O’Clock Creek – Poems New and Selected will appear from Oolichan Poems Coming Home From Home(2000), were short-listed for the 1997 Canadian Broadcasting Company/Saturday Night literary competition.

This title was also selected as one of the top ten People's Choice poetry books of 2000, in the company of Lorna Crozier and Don Coles. His linked story collection, Country Music Country, was published in 1996 to both critical and popular acclaim and broadcast on Canadian Broadcasting Company radio.

The London Free Press calls Hunter "the Hank Williams of Canadian literature". In 2002, he was Writer in Residence at the Banff Centre for the Writers’ Guild of Alberta.

In 2007, he was Writer in Residence at the Richmond Hill Public Library, in the Greater Toronto Region.

Stories About Us - 2005

Writing the Terrain - 2005

Smaller than God: Poems of the Spiritual - 2001

Following the Plough: Recovering the Rural - 2000

Lincolnshire By Lincolnshire - 1999

A Rich Garland: Poems for Master of Arts Klein - 1999

The Summit Anthology - 1999

90 Poets of the Nineties: An Anthology of American and Canadian Poetry - 1998

In the Clear - 1998

Reading Writing - 1996

What Is Already Known - 1995

Paperwork: New Work Poetry - 1990

Your Voice and Mine - 1987

Number Feather, Number Ink: Louis Riel Poems - 1985

Dancing Visions: New Poets in Review - 1985

Glass Canyons - 1984

New Voices: A Celebration of Canadian Poetry - 1984

Going Foreign Coffee: Work Poetry - 1981.

Achievements

• His most recent book, a novel, In the Bear’s House, was awarded as the 2009 Canadian Rockies prize selected from over 100 books from 10 countries at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.