Scholar, biographer and poet Morris Bishop was born in Willard, N.Y., and educated at Cornell University (A.B. 1913, M.A. 1914, Ph.D. 1926). He taught Romance languages at Cornell from 1921 until his retirement in 1960, and published poetry, essays, literary histories, and biographies of French and Italian writers. In 1959 he delivered the Beatty Lectures at McGill, later published as White Men Came to the St. Lawrence (McGill University Press, 1961).

Bill Bissett (born William Frederick Bissett) was born on November 23, 1939, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

He is a Canadian poet, artist, musician, and publisher, known for his unconventional style. He had a tumultuous childhood, often ran away from home, and developed peritonitis, resulting in years of hospitalizations. He also experienced bullying because of his sexuality. He attended Dalhousie University (1956) and the University of British Columbia (1963-1965). He founded blewointment press in British Columbia (1962) as a medium for young poets and published several of his own volumes under its imprint. In 1965, a CBC filmed a documentary about Bissett’s poetry and art, entitled “Strange Grey Day This.” In 1983, financial hardship, plus a desire to focus on his own writing and visual art, led him to sell blewointment press (which later became Nightwood Editions). Bissett is the author of several books of poetry including, “Fires in the Temple” (1966), “Nobody Owns the Earth” (1972), “Medicine My Mouths on Fire” (1974), “Canada Gees [sic] Mate for Life” (1985), and “Inkorrect thots” [sic] (1992). He has had several one-man art exhibits in Vancouver, Toronto, and London (Ont.). From 1986 to 1991, Bissett was the lyricist and vocalist in the London, Ontario band Luddites, releasing audio tape cassettes and discs including, “Luddites” (1988), “Shining spirit” (1989), and “Luddites dreemin uv th nite” [sic] (1991). In 2007, Bissett was awarded the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding contributions to literature in British Columbia. In 2008, he received an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from Thompson Rivers University. In 2019, Talonbooks published an anthology of poems from nearly every previously published Bissett's book, entitled "breth." Bissett is now based in Mattawa, Ontario and Toronto.

James Bissett was born in 1830 in Lachine, Quebec and died in 1904. He was the son of Alexander Bissett and Jane Bissett (her maiden name is unknown). Bissett was a carpenter in 1827 and became Superintendent of the Lachine Canal from 1843 to 1868. He spent eight years as a mercantile trader before joining the Hudson’s Bay Company as an Accountant at the Lachine Depot in 1854. He also served as Officer-in-Charge for the Hudson’s Bay Company post in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1859 and 1860, as Chief Trader in Victoria and Esquimalt (British Columbia) between 1860 and 1871, and as Chief Factor in Montreal from 1872 to 1880.