Paul Dutton is a poet, novelist, essayist, and oral sound
artist who is internationally renowned for both his literary and musical
performances. Throughout the last four decades he has published, recorded,
and performed his work in various contexts, solo and collaborative, in
print and film, on TV, radio, and the Web. He has taken his art to
festivals, clubs, concert halls, and classrooms throughout Canada and
across the United States, Europe, and South America.
Dutton’s artistic focus continues to be the exploration of consciousness
and perception through the creation of multisensory works, employing
written poetry and prose, visual poetry, and the sonic dimensions of
language and oral expression.
He was a member of the legendary Four Horsemen sound poetry quartet
(1970–1988), along with Rafael Barreto-Rivera, Steve McCaffery, and the
late bpNichol. He joins his soundsinging oralities and harmonica-playing
to John Oswald’s alto sax and Michael Snow’s piano and synthesizer in the
free-improvisation band CCMC (1989 to the present).
In recent years he has appeared in poetry festivals in Germany, France, and Venezuela, and at music festivals in Canada, Holland, and Argentina.
Awards
bpNichol Chapbook Award, 1989.
Villa Waldberta Scholarship, Cultural Department, City of Munich, 1998
Dora Mavor Moore Award, Toronto Association of Performing Arts, 2007
Selected Publications
The Book of Numbers. (Porcupine's Quill, 1979).
Right Hemisphere, Left Ear. (Coach House Press, 1979).
Visionary Portraits. (Mercury Press, 1991).
Aurealities. (Coach House Press, 1991).
The Plastic Typewriter. (Underwhich Editions, 1993).
Partial Additives (cassette). (Writers Forum, 1994).
Several Women Dancing (Mercury Press,
2002)
Mouth Pieces (OHM Éditions,
2000)
Oralizations (recording), (
Ambiances Magnétiques,
2005)
Selected Anthologies
Best Canadian Essays 1990. (Fifth House Publishers, 1990).
Hard Times: A New Fiction Anthology. (Mercury Press, 1990).
Carnival. (Insomniac Press, 1996).
The Echoing Years: Contemporary Canadian & Irish Verse (School of Humanities Publications, Waterford Institute of Technology, 2007)
In Fine Form: The Canadian Book of Form Poetry (Polestar,
2005)
Fümms bö wö tää zää Uu: Stimmen und Klänge der Lautpoesie (Book-CD),
(Scholzverlag, 2002)
Books in Print
Dutton, Paul
Visionary Portraits (Mercury Press, 1991) ISBN: 978-0-92054-480-8, $9.95
Aurealities (Coach House Books, 1991) ISBN: 0-88910414-X, $12.95
The Plastic Typewriter (Underwhich Editions, 1993) ISBN: 0-88658-087-0, $20.00
Partial Additives. (Writers Forum, c/o Underwhich Editions, 1994) ISBN: 0-86162-551-X, $15.00
Several Women Dancing (Mercury Press,
2002)
ISBN: 978-1-55128-096-7, $17.95
Mouth Pieces (recording) (OHM Éditions, 2000)
ISBN: AVTR 021, $20.00
Oralizations (recording), (Ambiances Magnétiques,
2005) ISBN: AM 130, $25.00
Paul Dutton, 343 Westmoreland Avenue (N.) Toronto, Ontario Canada M6H 3A6.
Tel / Fax: 416 588 8764
pd@musicworks.ca
Link: http://www.chbooks.com/archives/online_books/aurealities/
Link: http://www.ubu.com/sound/dutton.html.
Link: http://www.themercurypress.ca/?q=books/several_women_dancing
Link: http://www.actuellecd.com/en/bio/dutton_pa/discog/
Link: http://www.unlikelystories.org/dutton0107.shtml
Poet in the School
(Toronto)
A writer of poetry, fiction and essays, and a world leader in the area of sound poetry, Dutton has authored six books, co-authored three others, and issued eight sound recordings of his solo and collaborative work. Widely anthologized, he has given public readings throughout Canada, in Europe and the U.S.A. He was a member of The Four Horsemen, an internationally renowned poetry-performance quartet, for the group's 18-year life. He has been doing school readings and workshops for over thirty years.
Grade Levels: 1 - OAC
Fees: Negotiable
Classroom Approach:
Students
need not be familiar with Dutton's work to attend either his informal readings
of his own work (with free discussion throughout), or his participatory creative
writing workshops (with similarly free discussion). If a reading and discussion
is scheduled, students will encounter a diverse range of poetic forms and styles,
including visual and sound poetry, geared to their grade level, with lots of
opportunity for interaction. If a creative writing workshop is called for, students
should bring samples of their work (if they have any), and a supply of paper,
and pen or pencil. The emphasis is on practice and discussion, featuring a wide
range of exercises that students can continue to use and develop in their ongoing
writing endeavours. Special workshop available: "Poetry for people who
hate poetry".
