Pearl
Description
The making of a poem is like the making of a pearl - you take something gritty and create a jewel. George Bowering's final book of poetry, Pearl, follows this impulse, sprawling in search of the next glimmering insight, tugging at different threads with a multifarious large-heartedness. Pearl centres around a promise Bowering made to himself that one day he would write a poem about his mother, Pearl Bowering - a hillbilly, athlete, and champion bridge player. This promised poem anchors a book about the grit of life and what poetry can make from it. Touching, ribald, and cheeky, Pearl reflects on a life well-lived and well-written.
More details
Person
George Bowering, Canada's first Parliamentary Poet Laureate, is a major Canadian literary figure and one of the country's most prolific authors, having written more than one hundred books, including works of poetry, fiction, autobiography, biography, and youth fiction. His texts have been translated into French, Spanish, Italian, German, Chinese, and Romanian. A founder of the influential poetry journal TISH, Bowering went on to become a distinguished novelist, poet, editor, professor, and historian and a tireless supporter of fellow writers. He has twice won the Governor General's Literary Award, and has been shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize, the BC Book Prize, the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and the British Columbia National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. Bowering is an Officer of the Order of Canada, and has also been awarded the Order of British Columbia and the British Columbia Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence. The George Bowering Collection and Reading Room at UBC Rare Books and Special Collections is scheduled to open in 2026.