Nigel Beale Interviews Poet, Typographer, Book Designer Robert Bringhurst

JMV

Born in Los Angeles in 1946, Robert Bringhurst is an award winning Canadian poet, typographer and author. Perhaps best known for  The Elements of Typographic Style – a reference book of typefaces, glyphs and the visual and geometric arrangement of type, he is also a respected translator of poetic works from Haida into English.  He lives on Quadra Island, near Campbell River, B.C.

We met recently in Ottawa to talk about his definition of the book as articulated in The Surface of Meaning, and of typography and the services it ideally offers its readers, including:

Invite the reader into the text

Reveal the tenor and meaning of the text

Clarify the structure and the order of the text

Link the text with other existing elements

Induce a state of energetic repose, which is the ideal condition for reading

Please listen to our conversation here: