"bill bissett is a one-man culture... he is a lesson to us all." -- James Reaney



"bill bissett is my astral twin" -- Margaret Atwood



"The greatest living poet today" -- Jack Kerouac on bill bissett, Paris Review

There really isn't anyone quite like bill. That's one of the reasons he was awarded the Order of Canada and an honorary doctorate from Thompson Rivers, and why he was denounced in the House of Parliament years ago as a pornographer, and why, as poet Miranda Pearson put it, being such a non-gendered person, subsequent to his being denounced, he was the subject of a hate campaign in the 80's and 90's stoked by a homophobic shock jock in Calgary to the point where bill was actually in fear of his life and had to keep his whereabouts concealed. Nevertheless, he was shortlisted as one of three writers to be appointed the first Poet Laureate of Canada. As a measure of the generosity of his spirit, you don't need to look any further than his volunteer work as founder of the Secret Handshake Club in TO, a peer support group for people and artists with Schizophrenia. For all these reasons, for his over 60 books, for his complete dedication to his art, he's been a huge inspiration to generations of Canadian poets and the LBGTQ+ community. He's deeply loved and will be for as long as his work is out there. There's no one quite or even remotely like bill.