Robert Bringhurst

Robert Bringhurst is a poet, typographer and linguist, well known for his award-winning translations of the Haida storytellers Skaay and Ghandl, and for his translations of the early Greek philosopher-poet Parmenides. His manual The Elements of Typographic Style has itself been translated into ten languages and is now one of the world’s most influential texts on typographic design. Among his most recent publications is a pair of essay collections, The Tree of Meaning (GP, 2006) and Everywhere Being is Dancing (GP, 2007). Bringhurst lives on Quadra Island, off the British Columbia coast.



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Ursa Major
Robert Bringhurst

2009 / Poetry / $21.95
9781554470600 / Trade paper / 96 pp


A new-edition reprint of Robert Bringhurst’s polyphonic masque. Shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize in 2004, the National Post calls Ursa Major “a typically majestic and dedicated piece of work.”

Described by the author as “a poem that marries Cree, Roman and Greek traditions in a form that is a cross between a five-act play and a string quartet,” Ursa Major sounds out variations on the story of the great bear constellation in four languages, using parallel voices to enhance the fascinating discovery of a central myth in multiple cultures.

Ursa Major was first performed by the Regina dance company New Dance Horizons in 2002. This volume attempts to express that performance on the page, with a reading version and a multi-coloured “Voice Map” representing the poem’s polyphonic characteristics typographically. The cover and title page feature a wood engraving by Wesley Bates.

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Replaces a previous edition: 9781894031660

Other Books by this Author

Selected Poems
Robert Bringhurst

2009 / Poetry / $27.95 CAN
9781554470686 / Trade paper / 272 pp
The Tree of Meaning: Thirteen Talks
Robert Bringhurst

2008 / Essays / $31.95 CAN
9781554470242 / Trade paper / 320 pp
Everywhere Being is Dancing: Twenty Pieces of Thinking
Robert Bringhurst

2007 / Essays / $49.95 CAN
9781554470471 / Hardcover / 336 pp
The Tree of Meaning: Thirteen Talks
Robert Bringhurst

2007 / Essays / $49.95 CAN
9781554470259 / Hardcover / 320 pp
Everywhere Being is Dancing: Twenty Pieces of Thinking
Robert Bringhurst

2007 / Essays / $31.95 CAN
9781554470440 / Trade paper / 336 pp
The Typographic Mind
Robert Bringhurst

2006 / Essay / $1.00 CAN
9781554470327 / Pamphlet / 8 pp
The Solid Form of Language
Robert Bringhurst

2004 / Essays / $19.95 CAN
9781894031882 / Trade paper / 80 pp
Ursa Major
Robert Bringhurst

2003 / Poetry / $21.95 CAN
9781894031660 / Trade paper / 96 pp

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