Steven Ross Smith (born June 25, 1945) is a Canadian poet, sound poet, fiction writer,

arts journalist The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both h ...

and arts activist. He is best known for his fluttertongue poems, which have been published in six volumes. One of them, ''fluttertongue 3: disarray'', won the 2005 Book of the Year Award at the Saskatchewan Book Awards. The fluttertongue poems have been described as a dance with words that pushes the boundaries of both language and poetry. Smith is also known for his vigorous live performances of sound poetry. He has contributed to more than a dozen recordings including ''Homo Sonorous: An International Anthology of Sound Poetry'' released by the

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Kaliningrad Kaliningrad ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

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, (2001), ''Revolutions, A Compilation of Saskatchewan Sound Works'', (2000) and ''Carnivocal: A Celebration of Sound Poetry'' (1999). From 1992 to 2000, Smith performed with ''DUCT'', the improvisatory sound and music ensemble he founded. He was also a member of the sound/performance ensemble ''Owen Sound'' from 1975 to 1985. Smith's poetry first appeared in 1972 in the blewointment press anthology, ''what isint tantrik speshul'', and his first

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, ''White Cycle'', came out in 1977. In all, he has published nine books of poetry and two volumes of fiction. In 2006, Smith also published a collection of his newspaper profiles of 40

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

artists. In 2015 he published "Emanations: Fluttertongue 6" with Toronto's BookThug. In 1996-1997, Smith served as writer-in-residence at the

Saskatoon Public Library The Saskatoon Public Library is a publicly funded library system in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. It is available for use by any member of the public; library cards are free for all Saskatonians. Saskatoon Public Library was established in 1913 ...

. From 1990 to 2008, he was Executive Director of the Sage Hill Writing Experience, a ten-day summer school in

for professional writers. Smith was Director of Literary Arts at the

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

from 2008 to 2014. Since June 2018 he has been Banff Poet Laureate, both in Banff and as of 2020, at-large, carrying out initiatives for Banff and beyond, from

Saskatoon, Saskatchewan Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...

where he now lives.

Beginnings

Steven Ross Smith was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

in 1945, and grew up in the city's Parkdale neighborhood. He attended

Ryerson Polytechnical Institute Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU or Toronto Met) is a public research university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, although it also operates facilities elsewhere in Toro ...

, (now Toronto Metropolitan University), where he obtained a diploma in Radio and Television Arts in 1968. In 1971, he saw and heard a performance by a sound poetry group called ''

The Four Horsemen The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are figures in the Christian scriptures, first appearing in the Book of Revelation, a piece of apocalypse literature written by John of Patmos. Revelation 6 tells of a book or scroll in God's right hand th ...

'' consisting of

bpNichol Barrie Phillip Nichol (30 September 1944 – 25 September 1988), known as bpNichol, was a Canadian poet, writer, sound poet, editor, Creative Writing teacher at York University in Toronto and grOnk/Ganglia Press publisher. His body of work e ...

, Steve McCaffery, Rafael Barreto-Rivera and Paul Dutton. The performance was a turning point in Smith's creative development. He began to explore sound poetry and became friends with Nichol and Dutton. In 1975, he formed ''Owen Sound'' along with Richard Truhlar, Michael Dean and David Penhale. The group dedicated itself to sound and performance poetry as well as collaborative composition. It performed in and outside

and collaborated with other poets and musicians in a series of public performances, including appearances at the 10th International Festival of Sound Poetry in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

in 1977, and the 11th International Festival at Toronto's St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts in 1978.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Steven Ross 1945 births Living people Canadian male short story writers Writers from Toronto 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets 21st-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Poets Laureate of places in Canada