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Stuart Ross is a Canadian fiction writer, poet, editor, and creative-writing instructor.
Ross was born inToronto's north end in 1959 and grew up in theBorough of North York. He began writing at a very young age and was first published at age 16 by Books by Kids (nowAnnick Press). This book,The Thing in Exile, also contained work by teen writers Steven Feldman and Mark Laba. Ross attendedAlternative Independent Study Program for high school. He went on to self-publish dozens of books andchapbooks through his Proper Tales Press imprint. As his books began to emerge from larger literary publishing houses, he has continued his Proper Tales Press project.
Ross has been active in the Toronto literary scene since the mid-1970s. He is co-founder, with Nicholas Power, of theToronto Small Press Book Fair, which has been operating since 1987 under various directorships. This fair, the first of its kind in Canada, inspired similar events inVancouver, Ottawa, andHamilton. Ross is a founding member of the Meet the Presses collective, which formed in 2006 to promote small-press publishing in the Toronto area.
He was the 2002 "Writer in Residence" for the Writers' Circle of Durham Region, the 2003 "Poet in Residence" for theOttawa International Writers Festival, and the 2005 Electronic Writer in Residence for theToronto Public Library's RAMP website for teens. He wasQueen's University at Kingston's writer in residence in 2010[1] and the writer in residence at the University of Ottawa in 2021. Stuart was the Fiction and Poetry Editor forThis Magazine from 2004 until 2012, and from 2007 to 2016 he was Editor for Mansfield Press, where he had his own imprint: "a stuart ross book."[2] In 2017, Ross launched a new imprint for surrealist poetry – A Feed Dog Book – through Anvil Press.[3][4]
His own magazines have includedMondo Hunkamooga: A Journal of Small Press Reviews (later subtitledA Journal of Small Press Stuff),Peter O'Toole (a magazine of one-line poems),Dwarf Puppets on Parade (a magazine of writing with restrictions),Who Torched Rancho Diablo? (poetry and fiction),Syd & Shirley, a magazine of Canadian and American poetry, andHARDSCRABBLE, a poetry magazine.
Although primarily known as a poet, Ross has also published fiction and personal essays. His column "Hunkamooga" appeared inWord: Toronto's Literary Calendar from 2001 to 2005, and moved to the Vancouver-based literary magazinesub-Terrain in 2006, where it ran until 2012.
As an editor, Ross was responsible for the 2004 anthologySurreal Estate: 13 Canadian Poets Under the Influence. In 2003, he issued the chapbook anthologyMy Lump in the Bed: Love Poems for George W. Bush. In 2007, Ross was the editor for theInsomniac Press bookWhy Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden, and in 2010 for the Insomniac Press bookWhy Are You So Long and Sweet? Collected Long Poems of David McFadden. WithStephen Brockwell, he is the editor of the Mansfield Press poetry anthologyRogue Stimulus: The Stephen Harper Holiday Anthology for a Prorogued Parliament. In 2017, Ross was the editor ofCertain Details: Poetry of Nelson Ball, published by Wilfred Laurier University Press.
His 2009 short-story collection,Buying Cigarettes for the Dog, was shortlisted for the Alberta Readers' Choice Award and the Alberta Book Awards, and won the 2010 ReLit Award for Short Fiction. In 2012, he co-won the Elaine Mona Adilman Award for English Fiction & Poetry on a Jewish Theme, awarded by the J.I. Segal Committee of the Jewish Public Library in Montreal, for his novelSnowball, Dragonfly, Jew. In spring 2013, Ross's poetry collectionYou Exist. Details Follow. won the Exist Through The Gift Shop Award, the only prize given to an anglophone writer that year by the Montreal-based groupl'Académie de la vie littéraire au tournant du 21e siècle [fr].[5]In fall 2017, Ross's poetry collectionA Sparrow Came Down Resplendent received theCanadian Jewish Literary Award in the poetry category.[6] In September 2019, Ross was the recipient of the Harbourfront Festival Prize, awarded at the Toronto International Festival of Authors.[7]
His 2019 collectionMotel of the Opposable Thumbs was shortlisted for the 2020ReLit Award for Poetry.[8]
In 2023, Ross received theTrillium Book Award for his memoirThe Book of Grief and Hamburgers. This annual award goes to one outstanding book published in Ontario in English and one in French.[9]
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