Biography

Rob Taylor is the author of five poetry collections: Weather, (Gaspereau Press, 2024), Strangers (Biblioasis, 2021), Oh Not So Great: Poems from the Depression Project (Leaf Press, 2017), The News (Gaspereau Press, 2016) and The Other Side of Ourselves (Cormorant Books, 2011).

In 2017 The News was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize and in 2010 the manuscript for The Other Side of Ourselves won the Alfred G. Bailey Prize. Rob is also the editor of What the Poets are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation (Nightwood Editions, 2018) and the guest editor of Best Canadian Poetry 2019 (Biblioasis, 2019). In addition to his books, Rob is the author of six poetry chapbooks, most recently The Green Waves: Poems from Roblin Lake (845 Press, 2019) and Łazienki Park (The Alfred Gustav Press, 2017).

Rob’s individual poems, short stories, essays and interviews have appeared in more than eighty journals, magazines and anthologies, including The Walrus, Brick, The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, Literary Review of Canada and Best Canadian Poetry. His poem “Summer” was selected for inclusion in BC’s Poetry in Transit program. Over the past decade, Rob has conducted over 100 interviews with poets and authors.

In 2004 he co-founded Simon Fraser University’s student poetry zine High Altitude Poetry, and in 2007 he co-founded One Ghana, One Voice, Ghana’s first online poetry magazine. He was also the poetry editor at Red Fez from 2007 – 2010, and the poetry editor at PRISM international in 2014-15. Rob has run a blog devoted to Canadian (especially Vancouver) poetry, Roll of Nickels, since 2006. In 2011 he was part of the team that “resurrected” Vancouver’s Dead Poets Reading Series, which he helped coordinate until 2018. Rob currently serves as the director of the Fraser Valley Writers Festival.

Rob lives with his wife and children in Port Moody, BC, on the unceded territories of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-waututh), xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish) and Stó:lō peoples. He teaches creative writing at the University of the Fraser Valley and plays what some would consider an unreasonable amount of Ultimate Frisbee.

Short Bio (For Event Introductions)

Rob Taylor is the author of five poetry collections, including Weather and The News, which was a finalist for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize. Rob is also the editor of What the Poets Are Doing: Canadian Poets in Conversation and Best Canadian Poetry 2019. He teaches creative writing at the University of the Fraser Valley, and lives with his family in Port Moody, BC, on the unceded territories of the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

Awards

Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize (Finalist), 2017
City of Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award for the Literary Arts (Emerging Artist), 2015
PULP Literature Hummingbird Prize for Flash Fiction (Winner), 2014
Alfred G. Bailey Prize (Winner), 2010
The Malahat Review Far Horizons Award for Fiction (Finalist), 2021
Commonwealth Writers Short Story Prize (Longlisted), 2021 and 2024
The New Quarterly Nick Blatchford Occasional Verse Contest (Runner-up or Honourable Mention), 2015, 2018 and 2019
subTerrain Lush Triumphant Award for Poetry (First Runner-up), 2010
OCW Magazine Poem of the Year (Co-winner), 2010