For bpNichol's 80th birthday, a selection of 80 pieces from his 1980s notebooks, an astounding trove of never-before-seen work.

One of Canada's most beloved poets, bpNichol (1944–1988), left a huge legacy of poetry, prose, scripts, comics, and playful interrogation of language after his untimely passing in 1988. In celebration of what would have been Nichol's eightieth birthday, Some Lines of Poetry gathers excerpts from Nichol's journals across the 1980s to give a unique perspective on craft, process, and a writer's life. Featuring works in progress, insight into Nichol's thinking, previously unpublished prose and lyric, visual, and sound poems, Some Lines of Poetry documents Nichol's "apprenticeship to language" and his playful daily exploration of the limits of writing.

Lovingly edited by noted poet-scholars Derek Beaulieu and Gregory Betts, who provide an afterword contextualizing Nichol's practice, Some Lines of Poetry is a map of hidden corners, a guidebook to poetic play, and a tribute to Nichol's ongoing influence. (From Coach House Books)

bpNichol, who died in 1988, wrote more than 22 books of poetry and prose and won the Governor General's Award for poetry in 1971 and the Three-Day Novel Award in 1982 for Still.

Derek Beaulieu is the author or editor of more than 25 books of poetry, prose and criticism. He has exhibited his visual work across Canada, the United States and Europe. He is currently the director of literary arts at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity and Banff's poet laureate.

Gregory Betts is the author of ten books of poetry. He is a professor at Brock University and curator of the bpNichol.ca Digital Archive. His most recent book is The Fabuous Op, a collection of poetry co-written with Gary Barwin.