Joe Blades has been giving readings and publishing his poetry since 1980. He is a writer, artist, and publisher-president of the independent, literary publishing house Broken Jaw Press Inc. founded by him in 1983, plus he is on the editorial board of revue ellipse mag.
Blades was born in Halifax, NS, Canada. A graduate of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (BFA, 1988), he is also an alumni of the Banff Centre, Maritime Writers Workshop, Sage Hill Writing Experience, and the Simon Fraser University Book Publishing Immersion Workshop.
Based in Fredericton, New Brunswick since 1990, he grew up in Elmsdale, and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. He has also lived and/or worked in Port Hawksbury and Halifax, NS; Toronto; Montreal; Banff, AB; New York; Senta, Serbia; and Pale, Republika Srpska. Blades has given readings, lectures, and workshops across Canada, in the eastern USA, Scotland and Eastern Europe.
Blades exhibits bookworks, photographs, and objet d’art primarily in Canada and Europe. Since 1995, he has been a community radio producer-host at CHSR 97.9 FM with the three-time Barry Award-winning Ashes, Paper & Beans: Fredericton’s Writing & Art Show.
In June 2007, Blades was elected the NB & PEI Regional Representative on the National Council of The League of Canadian Poets. He is also an active member of the BlackTop MotorCycle Gang writers’ group.
Blades was curator of Videopoems: a screening for the Tidal Wave Film Festival, and he is the editor of ten publications including Some Stuff on Canadian Spoken Word & Indie Publishing (NCRA/ANRÉC, 2004) and UGLY: an instant spoken word chapbook anthology (Broken Jaw Press, 2007.
His poetry and art has appeared in over 55 trade and chapbook anthologies, and in numerous periodicals. Blades has authored 28 poetry chapbooks and limited edition artist books. He has published four full-length poetry books are Cover Makes a Set (SpareTime Editions, 1990), River Suite (Insomniac Press, 1998), Open Road West (Broken Jaw Press, 2000, 2001), and Casemate Poems (Widows & Orphans, 2004). Two of theses were translated and published in Serbian editions in 2005. His fifth book, Casemate Poems (Collected) (Chaudiere Books) is in the works for spring 2008.

New website: www.joeblades.com