(1949 McClelland & Stewart dj; design: John A. Mall?; 1979 reprint; design: N.R. McInnes/Audience)
(ultra-rare 3 LP series, each one signed, from the 1980s featuring Birney reading with percussion group Nexus)
(the 1942 G-G winning book that made Birney’s reputation ‘overnight’; title poem is widely and long considered Canada’s most famous narrative poem; rare signed reprint dj, Ryerson, 1942; design: Thoreau MacDonald)
(left: McClelland & Stewart dj, 1962–Frank Newfeld design; right: McClelland & Stewart, 1966; design: John Elphick, illustrations–Leonard Brooks)
(signed 1971 McClelland & Stewart: cover)
(from the same time; signed 1973 McClelland & Stewart–cover)
(left: from signed The Bear on Delhi Road, Chatto & Windus 1973 with laid-in letter; right: the excellent, comprehensive 1981 documentary directed by Donald Winkler, available for purchase from NFB)
Poet-novelist (Alfred) Earle Birney (1904-1995) was born in Calgary and raised near Creston. B.C. He worked as a farm hand, a bank clerk, and as a park ranger, and was briefly a Trotskyite before settling in at UBC where he founded and headed the Department of Creative Writing.
His 1942 classic poem “David” (featured in my Inside Poetry, 2nd. ed.) won a G-G Award as did 1945’s Now Is Time. Birney later acted in and read this poem in a short film which used to be available in Canadian schools. Birney also published three intriguing experimental albums with the percussion group Nexus. His own poetry became experimental in the mid-sixties, reflecting his love of humor and playing with language. Birney died at 91 of a heart attack.