Bruce Hunter (poet)

Bruce Hunter was born in Calgary, Alberta. He is the author of seven books, five of them poetry, as well as a collection of linked short stories and a novel. In 2010, his seventh book, Two O'Clock Creek - Poems New and Selected won the Acorn-Plantos Peoples' Poetry Award.[1][2]

In 2009, Bruce's novel, In the Bear's House, won the Canadian Rockies prize[3] selected from over 100 books from 10 countries at the Banff Mountain Book Festival.

His poetry collection Coming Home From Home (2000), was short-listed for the 1997 CBC/Saturday Night literary competition and selected as one of the top ten People's Choice poetry books of 2000. His linked story collection, Country Music Country, was published in 1996 to critical acclaim and broadcast on CBC Radio's Between the Covers. Wayson Choy said in Saturday Night: "Bruce Hunter writes with bold restraint and a poet's sensibility. His blue collar characters walk the tight line of their lives into the common universe that includes us all."

In 2017, Bruce was Author in Residence at Calgary Public Library and in 2007, he was Writer in Residence at the Richmond Hill Public Library, in the Greater Toronto Region; in 2002, he was Writer in Residence at the Banff Centre for the Writers' Guild of Alberta.

Bruce was deaf as an infant and was affected by low vision most of his adult life. He worked for 15 years as a gardener, labourer, equipment operator, and Zamboni driver before returning to school in his late twenties. While working those jobs, his poetry won him a scholarship to study creative writing at the Banff School of Fine Arts with W.O. Mitchell. Bruce went on to study film and literature at York University, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours).

From 1986 to 2012, Bruce taught English and Liberal Studies at Seneca College. In the 1980s, for four years he was poetry and poetry reviews editor and columnist for Toronto-based Cross Canada Writers' Quarterly. He has also taught creative writing at the Banff Centre and York University.

Now retired from teaching, Bruce writes full-time in addition to hosting readings and workshops on creativity and disability. He is a long-time member of the Canadian Hearing Society, the Canadian Hard of Hearing Association, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind, the League of Canadian Poets, the Writers' Guild of Alberta, the Writers' Union of Canada, and the Sierra Club of Canada.

• List of Canadian poets