Murdoch Maclean Burnett (9 October 1953 – 20 September 2015) was a Canadian poet, performance artist, editor, and community activist.
[3] Burnett, performed his work at a number of popular venues in Calgary, including Ten Foot Henry's and Marty's Cafe.
Over the years, Burnett would perform at various other venues and festivals both in and out of Alberta, including Vancouver, British Columbia, Winnipeg, Manitoba,[4] Toronto, Ontario, and Seattle, Washington.
It was a weekly half hour program dedicated to the art and craft of poetry and included interviews with other writers, recorded and live performances, and historical readings.
In 1988, Burnett was invited to perform at the Calgary Olympic Arts Festival alongside writers from 27 different countries amongst whom were Lawrence Ferlinghetti and Ryszard Kapuscinski.
Other performers in the Cabaret were Suki Davis, Brian Rusted, Rick Therrien, Ken Rivard, Glen Sherret, and Yvonne Trainer.
The 1996 line-up featured not only Burnett, but also Margaret Atwood, Roch Carrier, Wayson Choy, Tomson Highway, Paul Quarrington and Sheri-D Wilson.
[9] The Scream Literary Festival was an annual summer poetry reading event held under the stars in Toronto's High Park from 1993 to 2011.
[13] Burnett's contributions to the literary community in Canada were recognized at the Calgary International Spoken Word Festival "Home on Earth" in 2007 where he was honoured with the first ever Golden Beret Award.
[14] This award is given annually to a Canadian Poet who has made significant and lifelong contributions to the development of the poetic discipline through his or her written work, performances, and involvement in the community.
A short drive away, there's Jon Whyte (Banff), Monty Reid (Drumheller), and Richard Stevenson (Lethbridge).Three of his poems - "Imitating Art," "No Music," and "Watts Towers" - were selected and included in The Last Word: An Insomniac Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Poetry edited by Michael William Holmes.
"[20] "The Centre of the World: A Plains Journey" was chosen by Dr. Alwynne B. Beaudoin (Royal Alberta Museum) for inclusion in her recommended bibliography of important written and photographical accounts of the human history of the Palliser Triangle, the southern Canadian prairies.
In Volume 1 of the paper (August 1981) for example Burnett edited a taped conversation with a group of El Salvadorean folk musicians known as Yolocamba Ita.
[26] The goal of the piece (which was also released as a stand-alone publication by Syntax Arts Society[27] in Calgary) was, according to Burnett, to express solidarity with the El Salvadorean cultural workers and to counteract some of the biased reporting they had been subjected to by other mainstream North American press.