Robert Priest

Robert Priest reads from his poetry collection,
How to Swallow a Pig

Published by: ECW

Time of Reading: 4:18

Robert Priest is a poet, playwright, song-writer, and novelist. He is also known as Dr Poetry on CBC’s Wordbeat and has performed his exciting mix of poems and songs all over the world. His words have been debated in the legislature, posted in the Transit system, quoted by politicians, turned into a hit song and widely published in text books and anthologies. His spoken word video/single "Congo Toronto" received nation-wide airplay on MuchMusic for over three months in l986 and established for Priest a unique place in the poetry/music canon and he released two other spoken word recordings: Rotweiller Pacifist, l988, and Tongue’n’Groove, l998. In recent years Robert has entertained at numerous music & poetry festivals. In October of 2001 he was chosen to be a cultural ambassador for Canada in the Middle East where he performed in both Israel and Jordan. This year he performed all over Australia and on his return released his new book: How to Swallow a Pig. Robert lives in Toronto where he continues to write his “Passionate, cocky alternately adoring and insulting verse.” (The Toronto Star)

"Poetry full of flashes of insight. Imaginative in a strange way, he takes inordinate chances with logic, countering absurdity with absurdity, and expanding our sense of human emotional possibilities."
—The Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature

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