Biography

Matt Robinson was born in 1974 and grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Published in 2001 by Insomniac Press, his first book of poetry, A Ruckus of Awkward Stacking, also fulfilled the manuscript requirement for his Creative Writing/English M.A. at the University of New Brunswick. While studying at UNB, Robinson became heavily involved in the university’s creative writing community: he work shopped poems at the bi-weekly Ice House meetings and was the poetry editor for The Fiddlehead. Robinson has also represented New Brunswick/Prince Edward Island at The League of Canadian Poets and has served as the League’s President. His poems have been broadcast on CBC Radio and included in a number of anthologies, including Vehicule Press’s The New Canon (2005). Robinson’s poetry collection no cage holds a stare that well (2005) is devoted to the great Canadian pastime of hockey. No stranger to the world of hockey, Robinson himself has played since he was young and currently tends net for the 2004-05 UNB Intramural Hockey League champions The UNB Law Litigators. Between the publication of A Ruckus and no cage, Robinson published the full-length collection how we play at it: a list (2002) and a limited-edition chapbook of hockey poems, tracery & interplay (2004). His poetry has earned him a number of awards, including the 2000 Petra Kenney International Poetry Prize, the 2000 Writers’ Federation of New Brunswick Poetry Prize and the 2001 Alfred G. Bailey Prize. In addition to playing hockey, Robinson studied for a Ph.D. at the University of New Brunswick, while also working in the University’s Residential Life Department.

Bibliography

  • A Ruckus of Awkward Stacking. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 2001.
  • how we play at it: a list. Toronto: ECW Press, 2002.
  • tracery & interplay. Victoria: Frog Hollow Press, 2004.
  • no cage contains a stare that well. Toronto: ECW Press, 2005.
  • Against the Hard Angle. Toronto: ECW Press, 2010.
  • a fist made and then un-made. Kentville: Gaspereau, 2013.
Selected Overviews
No Cage Holds A Stare That Well
A Ruckus of Awkward Stacking

Click on selected overview to read...

Critical Sources

  • Robinson, Laura M. “The Natural.” Rev. of Awkward Stacking by matt robinson. Canadian Literature 182 (2004): 167-9.
  • Conley, Tim. “Lyrics and Larks.” Rev. of how we play at it: a list by matt robinson. Canadian Literature 183 (2004): 161-3.