Stuart Ross

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Stuart Ross is a Canadian fiction writer, poet, editor, and creative-writing instructor.

Ross was born in Toronto's north end in 1959 and grew up in the Borough of North York. He began writing at a very young age and was first published at age 16 by Books by Kids (now Annick Press). This book, The Thing in Exile, also contained work by teen writers Steven Feldman and Mark Laba. Ross went on to self-publish dozens of books and chapbooks through his Proper Tales Press imprint. As his books began to emerge from larger literary publishing houses, he has continued his Proper Tales Press project.

Ross has been active in the Toronto literary scene since the mid-1970s. He is co-founder, with Nicholas Power, of the Toronto Small Press Book Fair, an underground literary institution since 1987. This fair, the first of its kind in Canada, has inspired similar events in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Hamilton.

He was the 2002 "Writer in Residence" for the Writers’ Circle of Durham Region, the 2003 "Poet in Residence" for the Ottawa International Writers Festival, and the 2005 Electronic Writer in Residence for the Toronto Public Library's RAMP website for teens. Stuart has been the fiction and poetry editor for This Magazine since 2004.

His own magazines have included Mondo Hunkamooga: A Journal of Small Press Reviews (later subtitled A Journal of Small Press Stuff), Peter O'Toole (a magazine of one-line poems), Dwarf Puppets on Parade (a magazine of writing with restrictions), Who Torched Rancho Diablo? (poetry and fiction), and the current project, Syd & Shirley, a magazine of Canadian and American poetry.

Although primarily known as a poet, Ross has also published fiction and personal essays. His column "Hunkamooga" appeared in Word: Toronto's Literary Calendar from 2001 to 2005, and moved to the Vancouver-based literary magazine sub-Terrain in 2006.

As an editor, Ross's major project has been the anthology Surreal Estate: 13 Canadian Poets Under the Influence. In 2003, he issued the chapbook anthology My Lump in the Bed: Love Poems for George W. Bush. In 2007, Ross was the editor for the Insomniac Press book "Why Are You So Sad? Selected Poems of David W. McFadden."

[edit] Selected bibliography

The Pig Sleeps. Contra Mundo Books, 1991. (with Mark Laba)
The Mud Game. Mercury, 1995. (with Gary Barwin)
The Inspiration Cha-Cha. ECW, 1996.
Henry Kafka and Other Stories. Mercury, 1997.
Farmer Gloomy’s New Hybrid. ECW, 1999.
Razovsky at Peace. ECW, 2001.
Hey, Crumbling Balcony! Poems New & Selected. ECW, 2003.
Surreal Estate: 13 Canadian Poets Under the Influence. Mercury, 2004. (editor)
Confessions of a Small Press Racketeer. Anvil, 2005.
Robots at Night. Proper Tales, 2005.
I Cut My Finger. Anvil, 2007.