Barrie Phillip Nichol (30 September 1944 – 25 September 1988), known as bpNichol, was a Canadian

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 (thought, thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral t ...

, writer, sound poet,

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

, creative writing teacher at York University in Toronto and grOnk/Ganglia Press publisher. His body of work encompasses

poetry Poetry (from the Greek language, Greek word ''poiesis'', "making") is a form of literature, literary art that uses aesthetics, aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language to evoke meaning (linguistics), meanings in addition to, or in ...

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

, television scripts,

novel A novel is an extended work of narrative fiction usually written in prose and published as a book. The word derives from the for 'new', 'news', or 'short story (of something new)', itself from the , a singular noun use of the neuter plural of ...

s, short fiction, computer texts, and

sound poetry 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 poe ...

. His love of language and writing, evident in his many accomplishments, continues to be carried forward by many.

Work

Nichol was born in

Vancouver, British Columbia Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

. Though his early writing consisted of

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 ...

and lyrical poems, he first received international recognition in the 1960s for

concrete poetry Concrete poetry is an arrangement of linguistic elements in which the typographical effect is more important in conveying meaning than verbal significance. It is sometimes referred to as visual poetry, a term that has now developed a distinct mea ...

. The first major publications included ''Journeying & the returns'' (1967), a purple box containing visual & lyrical poems and ''Konfessions of an Elizabethan Fan Dancer'' (1969) a book of concrete poetry. He won the 1970

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for poetry with four publications: the prose booklet ''The True Eventual Story of Billy the Kid'' a collection of lyrical poems, ''Beach Head'', the boxed concrete sequence, ''Still Water'' and ''The Cosmic Chef'', a boxed

anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

of concrete and

visual poetry Visual poetry is a style of poetry that incorporates graphic and visual design elements to convey its meaning. This style combines visual art and written expression to create new ways of presenting and interpreting poetry. Visual poetry focuses on ...

. His best known work, ''The Martyrology'' (1972–1992) is an open-ended, lifelong poem that investigates language. The 'saints' are drawn from 'st' words (storm becomes St. Orm) and their spiritual quest provides a springboard from which linguistic issues of textuality, reading and writing are explored. Nichol frequently collaborated with other artists. The work of the sound poetry group, The Four Horsemen (Nichol, Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Paul Dutton and

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 ...

) has been documented in Volcano Theatre's stage performances of The Four Horsemen Project (

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moor ...

2007 & 2015). He collaborated with Steve McCaffery to form The Toronto Research Group (TRG), with Barbara Caruso, visual artist, with R. Murray Schafer, Howard Gerhard and John Beckwith,

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

s. Nichol's zest for publishing other writers was reflected in founding Ganglia Press with David Aylward in 1964 and grOnk in 1967 with Aylward, Rob Hindley-Smith and David UU ( David W. Harris). He was a volunteer editor at

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 ...

from 1975 to his death. In 1978, he was one of the

collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an e ...

that established Underwhich Editions which edited, designed, published and distributed the works of worthy writers. During the 1970s and 80s, he was a contributing editor of Open Letter, a literary magazine. Nichol also had a large presence on screens of various sizes. In the mid-1980s, he became a writer for the children's television show, ''

Fraggle Rock ''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy television comedy, comedy puppet television series about interconnected so ...

'', created by

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

. Soon, scriptwriting for other children's television shows followed: ''

The Raccoons ''The Raccoons'' is a Canadian animated television series that ran on CBC from November 11, 1985, to March 19, 1991, in Canada and on Disney Channel from July 4, 1985, to August 28, 1992, in the U.S., with three preceding television specials ...

'', ''

Under the Umbrella Tree ''Under the Umbrella Tree'' is a Canadian children's television series created by Noreen Young that originally aired on CBC from 1987 to 1993. It was produced by CBC and Noreen Young Productions, and later by The Disney Channel, which began air ...

'', ''

Care Bears Care Bears are multi-colored bears, painted in 1981 by artist Elena Kucharik to be used on greeting cards from American Greetings. They were turned into plush teddy bears and featured in ''The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings'' (1983) and ...

'' and ''

Babar Babar (), also variously spelled as Baber, Babur, and Babor is a male given name of Persian language, Persian origin, and a popular male given name in Pakistan. It is generally taken in reference to the Persian language, Persian ''babr'' (Persian ...

''. Several films include bp and his work, starting with

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer and essayist. Ondaatje's literary career began with his poetry in 1967, publishing ''The Dainty Monsters'', and then in 1970 the critically a ...

's short film, ''Sons of Captain Poetry'';

Ron Mann Ronald Mann (born June 13, 1958) is a Canadians, Canadian documentary film film director, director. His work includes the films ''Imagine the Sound'' (1981); ''Comic Book Confidential'' (1988); ''Grass (1999 film), Grass'' (1999) and ''Go Furt ...

's '' Poetry in Motion'' followed by '' bp: pushing the boundaries'', directed by Brian Nash, and more recently,

Justin Stephenson Justin may refer to: People and fictional characters * Justin (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Justin (historian), Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), ...

's award-winning film, ''The Complete Works''. He died 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 ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, five days shy of his 44th birthday. Since his death, there has been an upsurge of interest in ''First Screenings'', Nichol's 1984 computer poem (updated by Jim Andrews and his team) which has been part of electronic exhibitions from

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

to Oakville.

Therafields

Barrie Nichol / bpNichol was also a central figure in the psychoanalytic community Therafields, from the early 1960s into the early 1980s, with his formal resignation as vice-president of the organization in 1982. Nichol dedicates
The Martyrology
' to the founder, Lea Hindley-Smith, “for lea / without whose act of friendship / quite literally none of this would have been written’ (14) and the work makes many references to Therafields, Lea, the Annex, and Mono Mills, where the organization owned multiple properties, and some named individuals. Nichol “underwent personal therapy” in 1963” with Lea, and he is credited with stating, ”In my case, I think therapy literally saved my life” (Scobie 18).

Commemoration

The bpNichol Chapbook Award, a prize for poetry publications between 10 and 48 pages, was established in 1986 by Phoenix Community Works Foundation. This annual award for excellence in Canadian Poetry in English is now administered by Meet the Presses collective. A street in

, Canada, is named in his honour. bpNichol Lane is located near Huron and Sussex Streets beside

. It features an eight-line poem by Nichol carved into the pavement: "A / LAKE / A / LANE / A / LINE / A / LONE".

Bibliography

Poetry

*''Cycles Etc.'' (Cleveland: 7 Flowers Press, 1965) *''Scraptures: second sequence'' (Toronto: Ganglia Press, 1965) *''Journeying & the returns'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1967) *''Konfessions of an Elizabethan Fan Dancer'' (London: Writers Forum, 1967; Toronto: Weed/Flower Press, 1973; Toronto: Coach House Books, 2004) *''Still Water'' (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1970) *''The other side of the room'' (Toronto: Weed/Flower Press, 1971) *''Monotones'' (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1971) *''The Captain Poetry Poems'' (blewointment press, 1971; Toronto: BookThug, 2011) *''The Martyrology, Books 1 & 2'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1972) *''Love: A Book of Remembrances'' (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1974) *''The Martyrology, Books 3 & 4'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1976) *''Selected Writing: as elected'' (Vancouver: Talonbooks, 1980) *''The Martyrology, Book 5'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1982) *''First Screening'' (Calgary: Red Deer College Press, 1984; vispo.com) *''Zygal: a book of mysteries & translations'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1985) *''The Martyrology, Book 6 Books'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1987) *''Gifts: the Martyrology Book(s) 7 &'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1990) *''Ad Sanctos: the Martyrology Book 9 – a performance work with Howard Gerhard'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1993) *''Truth: a book of Fictions'' (Toronto: Mercury Press, 1993. Irene Niechoda, ed.) *''Art Facts: a book of contexts'' (Arizona: Chax Press, 1990) *''a book of variations: love-zygal-art facts'' (Toronto: Coach House, 2013. Stephen Voyce, ed.) *''bp: beginnings'' (Toronto: BookThug, 2014. Stephen Cain, ed.)

Booklets

*''Scraptures: 2nd Sequence'' (Toronto: Ganglia Press, 1965) *''The Birth of O'' (Toronto: Ganglia Press, 1966) *''Cold Mountain'' (Toronto: Ganglia Press, Singing Hands Series 3, 1966; Toronto: Coach House Press, 1967; Vancouver: Fingerprinting Inkoperated, 1992) *''Ruth'' (Toronto: Fleye Press, 1967; Hamilton: MindWare, 1993) *''Ballads of the Restless Are'' (Sacramento: The Runcible Spoon Press, 1968) *''Lament'' (Toronto: Ganglia Press, 1969; London, England, Writers Foum, 1969) *''The true eventual story of Billy the Kid'' (Toronto: Weed/Flower Press, 1970) *''Beach Head'' (Sacramento: Runcible Spoon, 1970) *''ABC: the Aleph Beth Book'' (Toronto: Oberon Press, 1971) *''Grease Ball Comics 2'' (Toronto: Ganglia Press, 1972) *''Aleph Unit'' (Toronto: Seripress, 1973) *''White Sound : a variant'' (Toronto: Ganglia Press, 1976) *''Scraptures 2nd Sequence: Alternate Takes'' (Vancouver: BCMonthly, 1977) *''Alphhabet Ilphbet'' (Toronto: Seripress, 1978) *''Translating translating Apollinaire: a preliminary report'' (Milwaukee: Membrane press, 1979) *''The Story of the Boat People'' (Toronto: Operation Lifeline, 1980) *''Extreme Positions'' (Edmonton: Longspoon Press, 1981) *''Continental Trance'' (Lantzville, BC: Oolichan books, 1982) *''The Frog Variations'' (Toronto: Curvd H&z, 1983) *''Transformational Unit'' (self-published in 1983 as a Christmas gift) *''continuum'' (Toronto: Underwhich Editions, 1984) *''Critical Frame of Reference'' (Toronto, Pataphysical Hardware Company, 1985; reprinted 1992) *''8 Lines on/of/as H's + 2 Alpha Pairings'' (Toronto: Letters, 1986; reprinted 1994) *''Librarians Need A Break'' (Toronto: Underwhich Editions, 1987) *''Bored Messengers'' (Prince George, B.C: Gorse Press, 1988) *''Back Lane Letters'' (Toronto: Letters, 1994) *''Holiday'' (Ottawa: Curvd H&z, 1999)

Prose

*''Two Novels'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1971) *''Craft Dinner'' (Aya Press, 1978) *''Journal'' (Toronto: Coach House, 1978) *''Still'' (Vancouver: Pulp Press, winner of the 3-day novel writing contest 1983) *''Selected Organs: parts of an autobiography'' (Windsor: Black Moss Press, 1988) * *''organ music: parts of an autobiography'' ( Windsor: Black Moss Press, 2015) *''Trois Contes de l'ouest'' (Quebec: Le Quartanier, 2015. Christophe Bernard, translator)

Television credits

*''

'' (Henson & Associates & CBC TV, 1984–1987) *''

'' (Noreen Young Productions & CBC Television, 1986–1987) *''

'' (Evergreen Raccoons Ltd, 1986) *''

;

Babar (TV series) ''Babar'' (, ; ) is an animated television series co-produced by Canadian animation studio Nelvana Limited and The Clifford Ross Company. It premiered in 1989 on CBC in Canada, and on HBO in the United States. The series is based on Jean de Br ...

'' (Nelvana Studios, 1986–1988) *'' Blizzard Island'' (Studio East & CBC Television, 1985–1988)

Critical studies and reviews of Nichol's work

;''Rational geomancy'' *

Related books

*''bpNichol: What History Teaches'' (

Stephen Scobie Stephen Scobie (born 31 December 1943) is a Canadian poet, critic, and scholar. Born in Carnoustie, Scotland, Scobie relocated to Canada in 1965. He earned a PhD from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver after which he taught at the Un ...

, Talonbooks, 1984) *''Read the Way he writes: A festschrift for bpNichol'' (Open Letter, Sixth Series, No. 5-6, 1986) *''Tracing the Paths: Reading ≠ Writing the Martyrology'' (Line Magazine, No. 10 & Talonbooks, 1988) *''Rational Geomancy: the collected research reports of the Toronto Research Group 1973-1982'' (Steve McCaffery & bpNichol, Talonbooks, 1992) *''A Sourcery for Books 1&2 of bpNichol's Martyrology'' (Irene Niechoda, ECW Press, 1992) *''Meanwhile: the critical writings of bpNichol'' (Roy Miki, ed., Talonbooks, 1992) *''An H in the Heart: bpNichol: A Reader'' (George Bowering & Michael Ondaatje ed., McClelland & Stewart, 1994.) *''bpNichol Comics'' (Carl Peters, ed., Talonbooks, 2002) *''The Alphabet Game: a bpNichol Reader'' (Darren Wershler-Henry & Lori Emerson, ed., Coach House Books, 2007)

References

External links

bpNichol.ca

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nichol, BP 1944 births 1988 deaths 20th-century Canadian poets Canadian male poets Poets from Vancouver Poets from Toronto 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male television writers Canadian television writers Visual poets Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Screenwriters from British Columbia People with lower case names and pseudonyms