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

sound poet Sound poetry is an artistic form bridging literary and musical composition, in which the phonetic aspects of human speech are foregrounded instead of more conventional semantic and syntactic values; "verse without words". By definition, sound poetr ...

fiction Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying character (arts), individuals, events, or setting (narrative), places that are imagination, imaginary or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent ...

writer,

arts journalist Arts journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of the arts including, but not limited to, the visual arts, film, literature, music, theater, and architecture. Traditionally, journalists and critics writing ...

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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, (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

chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...

, ''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 Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

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

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

. 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 Banff Centre) is an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta, Banff, Alberta. It offers arts programs in the Performing arts, performing and fine arts, as well as leadership trai ...

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 Provinces and territories of Canada, 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 Hig ...

where he now lives.

Beginnings

Steven Ross Smith was born in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

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

Ryerson Polytechnical Institute Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

, (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'' 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 ...

Steve McCaffery Steven McCaffery (born January 24, 1947) is a Canadian poet and scholar who was a professor at York University. He currently holds the David Gray Chair at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. McCaffery was born in Sheffie ...

, 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

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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 Poets 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 Municipal poets laureate in Canada