Robert (Bob) Martens was born and raised in the ethnic Mennonite village of Yarrow, BC, where he learned the joys and terrors of communal living. He entered the very non-communal wider world when he attended and graduated from Simon Fraser University during the years of student revolt. Soon afterwards, Robert settled down in Abbotsford and lives there to this day. He writes poetry, edits and writes prose, and reads his work to his strangely unappreciative cat. He is editor of, and a major contributor to, Roots and Branches, the periodical of the Mennonite Historical Society of BC (back issues online).

BOOKS:

Village of Unsettled Yearnings. Yarrow, British Columbia: Mennonite Promise. co-editor and contributor. TouchWood Editions, 2002.

Before We Were the Land's. Yarrow, British Columbia: Mennonite Promise. co-editor and contributor. TouchWood Editions, 2002.

First Nations and First Settlers in the Fraser Valley (1890-1960). co-editor. Pandora Press, 2004.

Half in the Sun: Anthology of Mennonite Writing. co-editor and contributor. Ronsdale Press, 2006.

Windows to a Village: Life Studies of Yarrow Pioneers. co-editor and contributor. Pandora Press, 2007.

evicted from jerusalem. poems. self-published chapbook, 2007.

ever after and other poems. self-published chapbook, 2009.

Alphabetically Abbotsford: People...Places...Parks. chief editor and contributor. University of the Fraser Valley Press, 2010.

poltergeist. a book of poems. Lipstick Press, 2011.

little creatures. a book of poems. Ekstasis Press, 2013. $21.95 9781771710152

Abbotsford: From Village to City. A Commitment to Excellence and Innovation. co-editor and contributor. MSA Museum Society, 2015. $40 from MSA Museum Society( Society can be accessed online) 978-0-9737193-4-5.

Hush (Ekstasis 2016)

[BCBW 2017]