Colin Morton

Colin Morton (born 1948 Toronto) is a Canadian poet.

Life
He grew up in Calgary.

His poetry and fiction have appeared in Descant, The Fiddlehead, Arc, Grain, The Malahat Review, Ascent, and The North American Review. He was a member of the performance group First Draft along with Susan McMaster, Andrew McClure, Alrick Huebener, Roberta Huebener, Claude Dupuis, Peter Thomas, and David Parsons. Together, they recorded, published, and performed some 40 times across Canada in the 1980s.

In 1986 he was the winner of the Archibald Lampman Award for poetry. His book of poetry The Merzbook was inspired by the life and work of Kurt Schwitters, and was the basis for a dramatic production, The Cabbage of Paradise. The sound-poem, Primiti Too Taa, based on Schwitters' Ursonate (Sonata in primitive sounds), was made into an animated short film by Ed Ackerman, featuring Morton's voice and a stop-motion animation of moving letters, made using a typewriter. It was featured in Spike and Mike's Festival of Animation, Vol 1.

He lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Recognition

 * CBC Radio Literary Competition, third prize, poetry 1984.
 * Archibald Lampman Award, 1986.
 * ASIFA East Film Festival, New York, best soundtrack, 1988.
 * National Educational Film and Video Festival, bronze apple, 1988.
 * Short Grain Contest, second prize, 1989 (prose poem), 1990 (postcard fiction).
 * Jane Jordan Poetry Contest, third prize, 1991.
 * Nepean Library Short Story Contest, second prize, 1993.
 * Archibald Lampman Award for Poetry, 2001.

Except where noted, award information courtesy Seraphim Books.

Poetry

 * In Transit. Saskatoon, SK: Thistledown Press, 1981. ISBN 0-920066-44-5
 * Printed Matter. Camrose, AB: Sidereal Press, 1982.
 * Poem Without Shame. Ottawa: Ouroboros, 1983.
 * This Won't Last Forever. Edmonton, AB: Longspoon, 1985. ISBN 0-919285-31-7
 * Two Decades: from A century of inventions. Ottawa: Ouroboros, 1987.
 * The Merzbook: Kurt Schwitters Poems. Kingston, ON: Quarry Press, 1987. ISBN 0-919627-46-3
 * How to Be Born Again. Kingston, ON: Quarry Press, 1992. ISBN 1-55082-036-2
 * Nefertiti. Ottawa: Pooka Press, 1995.
 * Coastlines of the Archipelago. Maxville, ON: Above/Ground Press, 1999; Ottawa: BuschekBooks, 2000. ISBN 1-894543-00-9
 * Dance, Misery. Toronto: Seraphim Editions, 2003. ISBN 0-9689723-8-1
 * The Cabbage of Paradise. Hamilton, ON: Seraphim Editions, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9735487-7-8
 * The Local Cluster. San Antonio, TX: Pecan Grove Press, 2008. ISBN 978-1-931247-54-2
 * The Hundred Cuts: Sitting Bull and the Major. Ottawa : BuschekBooks, 2009. ISBN 978-1-894543-55-2

Fiction

 * Oceans Apart. Kingston, ON: Quarry Press, 1995. ISBN 1-55082-136-9 (novel)

Edited

 * The Scream: First Draft, the third annual group show. Ottawa: Ouroboros, 1984. ISBN 0-920301-04-5
 * Capital Poets: An Ottawa Anthology. Ottawa: Ouroboros, 1989. ISBN 0-920301-12-6

Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.