Matt Robinson (poet)

Matt Robinson (born 1974) is a Canadian poet born in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Matt Robinson
Robinson in December 2015
Born	(1974-02-24) February 24, 1974 Halifax, Nova Scotia
Nationality	Canada
Alma mater	St. Mary’s University Mount Saint Vincent University University of New Brunswick
Website	http://www.mattrobinsonpoet.wordpress.com

His first collection, A Ruckus of Awkward Stacking (2000),[1] was published by Toronto's Insomniac Press, and was a finalist for both the Gerald Lampert Award and the ReLit Award for Poetry. Subsequent collections, published by Toronto's ECW Press, include how we play at it: a list (2002),[2] no cage contains a stare that well (2005),[3] and Against the Hard Angle (2010).[4] In addition to his full-length collections, he has also published five chapbooks: tracery & interplay (Frog Hollow Press, 2004),[5] Against the Hard Angle (Greenboathouse Press, 2009),[6] a fist made and then un-made (Gaspereau Press, 2013),[7] which was short-listed for the bpNichol Chapbook Award,[8] The Telephone Game (Baseline Press, 2017),[9] and Against (Gaspereau Press, 2018).[10] Robinson's, Some Night's It's Entertainment; Some Other Nights Just Work,[11] was published by Kentville, NS's awarding-winning Gaspereau Press in Fall 2016 and his new collection, Tangled & Cleft, was released by Gaspereau Press in Fall 2021.[12]

Robinson's poems have won a number of awards including the Petra Kenney International Poetry Prize,[13] Grain Magazine's Prose Poem Award, and The Malahat Review Long Poem Prize.[14] He has also received the New Brunswick Foundation for the Arts Emerging Artist of the Year Award.

His poems have also appeared in a number of anthologies, including The New Canon,[15] Breathing Fire 2,[16] Coastlines: The Poetry of Atlantic Canada,[17] Exact Fare Only 2, and Landmarks: An Anthology of New Atlantic Canadian Poetry of the Land, and been featured in programs such as the Halifax Regional Municipality's Art in Public Places and Poetry in Motion initiatives.[18] His poem ‘grand parade, halifax’ is publicly featured in Halifax's Grand Parade Square,[19] and his poem ‘the grain elevators’ was produced as a cinepoem (in collaboration with filmmaker Megan Wennberg) as a part of the A Certain Openness: the filming of poetry project[20] sponsored by AFCOOP and WFNS.

Robinson holds a BA and a BSc from Saint Mary's University, a BEd from Mount Saint Vincent University, and an MA from the University of New Brunswick. He is a graduate of Halifax's J. L. Ilsley High School.

Robinson worked at Dalhousie University as a Residence Life Manager (in Howe Hall) from 2007 to 2012.[21][22] He currently serves as Director - Housing & Conference Services at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, NS.[23]