Chris Gilpin

Chris is a spoken word performer, videographer, and arts educator living in Vancouver, Canada.

He works as the Onsite Program Facilitator for Animating History at the Museum of Vancouver, and as the Program Coordinator for VPH’s Word Play, Poetry in Schools.

Chris is the 2011 Vancouver Individual Poetry Slam Champion. He is also a two-time member of the Vancouver Poetry Slam Team (2008 & 2009), the runner-up in the 2008 Vancouver Individual Poetry Slam competition, the champion of Vancouver’s 2008 Haiku Death Match, finalist in the 2010 Write Bloody Press manuscript competition, and winner of the Vancouver’s 2009 CBC Poetry Face-off.

In the summer of 2006, he toured the Canadian Fringe circuit with his play “87% True: The Lies That Bind”, co-created with Rosemary Rowe. His literary work has been published in Geist, PRISM international, CV2, Poetry is Dead, Vancouver Review, The Canadian Review of Literature in Performance, and many others. He performs as part of the interactive multimedia clown rock supergroup Awesome Face.

Way back when, Chris graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. Film Studies. His graduating film, “Remembrance Dance”, was an official selection of the 1999 Toronto International Film Festival, and showed at other film festivals around the world.

Chris has toured as a spoken word poet throughout Canada, and the northwestern United States, and performed in schools all over Vancouver’s Lower Mainland.

What reviewers and other poets are saying:

“It’s extremely difficult to get on stage and be funny, as many failed comedians can attest, and trying to do so through the lens of poetry can be even more challenging. Chris rose to that challenge and exceeded my expectations by a considerable margin. He wasn’t afraid to poke fun in his own direction (that of a spoken-word artist) and everything he approached was presented in a clever and engaging way.” – State of Affairs

“Chris Gilpin is one of the funniest poets I’ve ever had the pleasure to see and hear. He has very quickly become one of my favorite humorists. His ability to bring peace and unity throughout the world will also bring the continents together. Our return to Pangaea is imminent, but until then, please enjoy Chris’ work with a fine snack and/or loved one” –Mike McGee

“For a white guy, he’s actually pretty cool.” – Scruffmouth

“Chris has a ten gigabyte penis.” – Fernando Raguero

“Chris writes great stuff, none of it easy or sentimental, all of it unique and thought provoking. Plus, he’s a killer performer and that nice kind of strange where you come away from his performances thankful that he doesn’t have children, but only in a good way.” – Brendan McLeod

“Chris Gilpin’s poems cured my goat boy of cancer. His words are not superfluous nipples.” – RC Weslowski

Hi-rez version of this photo