Darren Wershler, also known as Darren Wershler-Henry, (b. 1966) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

experimental

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wri ...

, non-fiction writer and cultural critic. Wershler was the senior editor of

Coach House Books Coach House Books is an independent book publishing company located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Coach House publishes experimental poetry, fiction, drama and non-fiction. The press is particularly interested in writing that pushes at the boundar ...

between 1997 and 2002, where the works he edited included several highly acclaimed books of contemporary innovative poetry, including ''Fidget'' by

Kenneth Goldsmith Kenneth Goldsmith (born 1961) is an American poet and critic. He is the founding editor of UbuWeb and since 2020 is the ongoing artist-in-residence at the Center for Programs in Contemporary Writing (CPCW) at the University of Pennsylvania, where ...

(2000), both volumes of ''Seven Pages Missing'', the collected works of

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 ...

(2000, 2002), ''Lip Service'' by Bruce Andrews (2001), and '' Eunoia'' by

Christian Bök Christian Bök, FRSC (; born August 10, 1966 in Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian poet known for unusual and experimental works. He is the author of '' Eunoia'', which won the Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize. Life and work He was born "Christian Bo ...

(2001). Wershler is the youngest poet discussed in

Marjorie Perloff Marjorie Perloff (born September 28, 1931) is an Austrian-born poetry scholar and critic in the United States. Early life Perloff was born Gabriele Mintz into a secularized Jewish family in Vienna. The annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany exa ...

's ''21st Century Modernism'', which analyzes his second book of poetry, ''the tapeworm foundry'' (a Trillium Book Award finalist in 2000). He has instructed courses in Communication Studies at

York University York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,0 ...

and

Wilfrid Laurier University Wilfrid Laurier University (commonly referred to as WLU or simply Laurier) is a public university in Ontario, Canada, with campuses in Waterloo, Brantford and Milton. The newer Brantford and Milton campuses are not considered satellite campuses ...

and currently is the Concordia University Research Chair in Media and Contemporary Literature (Tier 2) at Concordia University. He has authored several books about the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, technology and culture, as well as occasional essays on pop culture for newspapers and magazines such as '' Brick'', ''

Broken Pencil ''Broken Pencil'' is a Canadian magazine based in Toronto, which profiles zine culture, independent arts and music. It was founded in 1995 and publishes four times annually. History The magazine was founded in 1995 by Hal Niedzviecki. Its curr ...

'' and ''

This Magazine ''This Magazine'' is an independent alternative Canadian political magazine. History and profile The magazine was launched "by a gang of school activists" in April 1966 as ''This Magazine Is About Schools'', a journal covering political issues ...

''. He lives in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

Works

Poetry

* ''Update (with Bill Kennedy)'' * ''apostrophe (with Bill Kennedy)'' * ''the tapeworm foundry'' * ''NICHOLODEON: a book of lowerglyphs''

Non-fiction

* ''Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg'' * ''The Iron Whim: A Fragmented History of Typewriting'' * ''The Original Canadian City Dweller's Almanac (with

Hal Niedzviecki Hal Niedzviecki (born January 9, 1971) is a Canadian novelist and cultural critic. Born in Brockville, he was raised by a Jewish family in Ottawa, Ontario, and Potomac, Maryland, did his undergraduate studies at University College, Toronto, and ...

)'' * ''FREE as in speech and beer: open source, peer-to-peer and the economics of the online revolution'' * ''CommonSpace: Beyond Virtual Community (with Mark Surman)'' * ''Internet Directory 2001 (with Scott Mitchell)'' * ''The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Shopping for Canadians (with Preston Gralla)'' * ''Internet Directory 2000 (with Scott Mitchell)''

Articles

* ''Return From Without: Louis Riel and Liminal Space'' in Sakolsky, Ron and James Koehnline, ''Gone to Croatan'', Autonomedia, 1993

External links

*
dw: Darren Wershler's home pageRecords of Darren Wershler-Henry and Kootenay School of Writing fonds are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wershler, Darren 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets Living people 1966 births 21st-century Canadian poets Canadian non-fiction writers Writers from Montreal Canadian book editors Anglophone Quebec people 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers