Stephen Bett is a widely and internationally published Canadian poet. His earlier work is known for its sassy, edgy, hip... caustic wit—indeed, for the askance look of the serious satirist... skewering what he calls the vapid monoculture' of our times. His more recent books have been called an incredible accomplishment for their authentic minimalist subtlety. Many are tightly sequenced book-length 'serial' poems, which allow for a rich echoing of cadence and image, building a wonderfully subtle, nuanced music. Bett follows in the avant tradition of Don Allen's New American Poets. Hence the mandate for Simon Fraser University's Contemporary Literature Collection to purchase and archive his "personal papers" for scholarly use. He is recently retired after a 31-year teaching career largely at Langara College in Vancouver, and now lives with his wife Katie in Victoria, BC.