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“A Short Sad Reading” hardly sounds like a fun way to spend your time. Yet, that is exactly what a roomful of students, faculty and community members did last Thursday, March 24 and no one in attendance seemed too sad to do so, especially since the read-ing was by legendary BC author George Bowering. Words can be deceiving.
Bowering, the first parliamentary poet laureate of Canada, is a prolific writer with dozens of works of fiction, poetry, history, and literary criticism. In 2002, the same year he was made poet laureate, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. He was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 2004. Bowering is best known for his Avant Garde approach to all his work and inclusion as a founding member of the influential TISH magazine and group of poets that includes Fred Wah, Frank Davey, and Jamie Reid. These are just the bare bones of a prolific career that can be found on any online source. Facebook also insists that Bower-ing “now spends his time tro