Peter Ganick Papers

Peter Ganick was a private piano teacher, poet, publisher, visual artist, and resident of West Hartford, Connecticut. He was born on December 14, 1946 in Boston, Massachusetts to parents William (an executive in advertising) and Virginia (a legal secretary and pianist). Ganick was raised in Needham, Massachusetts, twelve miles from Boston itself. He attributed his passion for the arts to his parents and to having grown up in the Boston area, where he had access to many exceptional art museums and venues.

He began playing the piano at age seven at the New England Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of his aunt and continued piano lessons for 18 years. After being dropped from his aunt’s class for misbehaving, he began learning at the New England Conservatory Preparatory Department, where his talent developed. He continued his music interests during his time at Needham High School as well, where he was a member of the marching band and part of a jazz quintet.

Ganick did not initially pursue music at the university level. Beginning at Bard College in 1964, he first focused on Mathematics because according to a former music instructor, he—despite his obvious talent—needed greater discipline in order to be a professional pianist. He later switched his concentration to music and transferred to Boston University (1966-1969) where he obtained a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition. After a period of uncertainty, Ganick took graduate courses in this field at Brandeis University and later at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Though he does not regret this, Ganick did not ultimately obtain his Master’s degree. His love of music was also influenced early on by his attendance for two summers at the New England Music Camp in Waterville, Maine and more significantly by his summer study abroad experiences in Pau, France and Hildesheim, Germany. His interest in European life, language, art, and culture blossomed while there.

Though he worked for a time in the Boston Public Library and as a taxi driver, Ganick had been a piano instructor since 1972. His profession as a publisher also began in the early 1970s. Roxbury Poetry Enterprises, his first poetry press, was used to publish his book, SOME POEMS. The press also published poets including Larry Eigner, Will Bennett, Clayton Eshleman, and Brad Pearson.

He founded Potes & Poets Press in 1980, which would soon become an influential publisher of experimental, visual, and L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poetry, printing the works of writers such as Rachel Blau DuPlessis and Charles Bernstein. Although the Press lacked a clear mission statement, Ganick always hoped to publish an array of writers whose work proved challenging. The press was ultimately given non-profit status and received four grants—two from the National Endowment of the Arts and another two from the Connecticut Endowment for the Arts. Ganick sold the Press in 2000, as he needed to focus on his own writing and newfound passion for visual art.

The newsletter A.BACUS, a Ganick-run L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E-oriented publication, was printed eight times a year with each of its 140 issues focusing on an individual writer. Ganick ventured online with his publications, POTEPOETZINE and POTEPOETTEXT, which were sent to subscribers via email. While the former remained in magazine format, the latter was lengthier and focused on the theoretical aspects of literature written by one author. Ganick also created Blue Lion Books, an on-demand, experimental-writing publishing press, with Jukka-Pekka Kervinen in 2003. This press focuses on experimental writing and normally publishes texts of 250 pages or more.

In addition to being a publisher, artist, and writer, Ganick also edited an anthology of poetry—The Art of Practice: 45 Contemporary Poets— with Dennis Barone, an instructor at Saint Joseph College. Ganick is also editor of the blog, experiential-experimental literature and with Kervinen, editor of white sky books. Kervinen initially founded white sky in order to showcase Ganick’s writing, though the press now publishes others. Ganick’s own white sky books include ambergris (2008), in unison (2008), the decimated forest (2008) and soft text (2008). Other non-white sky Ganick books include are …1 …2 …3 …4 (Blue Lion Books, 2005), THEORY OF TIME (cPress, 2008), and meditation for inner voice (Blue Lion Books, 2007), among others.

Peter Ganick died on April 16, 2020.

Sources: Ganick, Peter. “Peter Ganick: piano instructor / poet & publisher / fine artist” LinkedIn. LinkedIn Corporation, 2011. Web. 19 April 2012. /www.linkedin.com/pub/peter-ganick/24/61/3a2>. Ganick, Peter. peter ganick / art & words / links. Weebly, n.d. Web. 19 April 2012. /www.peterganick.com/index.html>.

A bio on Ganick found on the white sky books website. Presumably written by Ganick.