Biographie
David Huebert’s writing has won the CBC Short Story Prize, The Walrus Poetry Prize, and was a finalist for the 2020 Journey Prize. In 2020, he released his second book of poems, Humanimus.David’s fiction debut, Peninsula Sinking, won a Dartmouth Book Award, was shortlisted for the Alistair MacLeod Short Fiction Prize, and was runner-up for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award. David’s work has been published in magazines such as The Walrus, Maisonneuve, enRoute, and Canadian Notes & Queries, and anthologized in Best Canadian Stories and The Journey Prize Stories 32. David teaches at The University of King’s College in K’jipuktuk/Halifax, where he lives and writes.
A self-styled "dirty nature writer," David writes poetry that is influenced, in complicated ways, by environment and machines. He runs workshops on sound poetry, rhyme, basics of poetic form, and writing with animals.
Entrevue
I did read poetry in high school, I just didn't know it. I listened to music lyrics! This is the most popular form of contemporary poetry--I talk about this a lot in my workshops.
As a teen, I loved the lyrics of Prince, David Bowie, and A Tribe Called Quest. I still do! Huge respect for hip-hop.
I started writing in undergrad. I still cringe a little at the word "poet."
The poet's job is (1) to connect to readers emotionally, and (2) to carve new frontiers of language--our species' most sophisticated technology.
I'd choose "'Hope' is the thing with feathers" by Emily Dickinson. Dickinson's poems are always beautiful, curving neon through the mind. I love her slanted way of writing and thinking. This is also pragmatic--Dickinson's poems are shortish, and they rhyme. Rhyme is a natural mnemonic aide. I memorized several of Dickinson's poems for my PhD exams. I often preach about the value of memorizing poetry. Once you do so, they live inside you.
