Robert Hilles

Robert Hilles (born November 13, 1951) is a Canadian poet and novelist[1] who divides his time between Nanaimo, BC and Khon Kaen, Thailand.

Robert Hilles

Born in Kenora, Ontario, Hilles studied at the University of Calgary, earning a BA in Psychology and English in 1976.[2] He also holds an MSc in Educational Psychology, earned at the university in 1985.[3]

Hilles lived for many years in Calgary, Alberta and was active in the writing community there. For ten years he acted as the managing editor of Dandelion, the oldest surviving literary magazine in Alberta.[2] He developed the magazine from a small pamphlet to one of the most respected literary magazines in Canada. During that time he also organized many successful readings featuring writers from across the country. In 2001, he moved to British Columbia and has been active in the literary community there, especially on Salt Spring Island where he now lives. With other writers, he helped to set up a scholarship for beginning writers on Salt Spring and also organized a new reading series on the island.[4]

He served on the executive of the League of Canadian Poets for five years and in 1996 was sent by the League of Canadian Poets and the Department of Foreign Affairs to represent Canada at an International Poetry Festival in Japan. Hilles won the 1994 Governor General's Award for Poetry for Cantos From A Small Room (1993). In the same year, his first novel, Raising of Voices (1993), won the Writers' Guild of Alberta's George Bugnet Award for Novel. He has published sixteen books of poetry and five books of prose.

Wrapped Within Again, New and Selected Poems was published in the fall of 2003 and won the Stephan Stephansson Award for Poetry.[5] His second novel, A Gradual Ruin, was published by Doubleday Canada in 2004. His books have also been shortlisted for the Milton Acorn People's Poetry Prize, the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize, the Stephan G. Stephansson Award for Poetry, and the Howard O’Hagan Award for Short Fiction.[6]

Bibliography

• Look the Lovely Animal Speaks (1980), ISBN 0-88801-053-2
• The Surprise Element (1982)
• An Angel in the Works (1983), ISBN 0-88982-052-X
• Outlasting the Landscape (1989), ISBN 0-920633-61-7
• Finding the Lights on (1991), ISBN 0-919897-27-4
• A Breath at a Time (1992), ISBN 0-88982-110-0
• Raising of Voices (1993), ISBN 0-88753-272-1
• Cantos from a Small Room (1993), ISBN 0-919897-37-1 – winner of the 1994 Governor General's Award for Poetry
• Near Morning (1995), ISBN 0-88753-271-3
• Kissing the Smoke (1996), ISBN 0-88753-283-7
• Nothing Vanishes (1996), ISBN 0-919897-52-5
• Breathing Distance: A Book of Odes (1997), ISBN 0-88753-297-7
• Somewhere Between Obstacles and Pleasure (1999), ISBN 0-88753-327-2
• Higher Ground (2001), ISBN 1-895836-80-8
• Wrapped Within Again: New and Selected (2003), ISBN 0-88753-384-1
• A Gradual Ruin: A Novel (2004), ISBN 0-385-65961-X
• Calling the Wild (2005), ISBN 0-88753-411-2
• Slow Ascent (2006), ISBN 0-88753-428-7
• Partake (2010), ISBN 978-0-88753-474-4
• Time Lapse (2012), ISBN 978-0-88753-494-2
• Line (2018), ISBN 978-0-88753-592-5
• Shimmer (2019), ISBN 978-0-88753-602-1
• Release, Short Story collection now complete.
• Don't Hang Your Soul on That, Guernica Editions, 2021.
• One True Note, Second novel set in Thailand now complete.
• A Piece of Rag Wrapped Gold, book of prose poems on the Atomic Age.
• Pink Puppet , book of Flash Fiction in the works.
• To Parts Unknown, novel set in Northwestern Ontario in the works.
• The Stoneboats, novel set in Canada and US in 1920 and 1921.

References

1. Robert Hilles entry in Encyclopedia of Literature in Canada
2. Robert Hilles VIU Department of Creative Writing and Journalism faculty page
3. Canadian Books and Authors – Robert Hilles
4. 2017 Islands Short Fiction Contest Winners Announced
5. Alberta Literary Awards Finalists and Winners – 2004
6. About Robert Hilles