Murdoch Burnett

Born in Calgary, Canadian poet and performance artist Murdoch Burnett was the seventh of 11 children. He left school at 17 to devote himself to poetry. His poems and short prose pieces frequently take inspiration from the natural world. His collections of poetry include Experiments in a Pure Form: Poems 1971-1980 (1981), The Long Distance and Other Poems: 1981-1986 (1987), and The Centre of the World: A Plains Journey (1993). Burnett’s work has also been featured in the anthologies The Last Word: An Insomniac Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Poetry (1995) and Writing the Terrain: Travelling through Alberta with the Poets (2005).
 
Burnett won the Golden Beret Award from the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival. The University of Calgary holds a selection of his papers.