Richard Tylman, born Ryszard /'RI-shard/ Tylman, is a painter holding an MFA in fine arts, essayist, storyteller, translator, author of limited editions of poetry in English and Polish languages and winner of the Grand Owl Poetry Award sponsored by the Jagiellonian University of Kraków; a Canadian spoken word artist and author of articles and essays contributing to the intellectual climate of the arts and literary communities of Western Canada, the Polish-Canadian cultural society, and the world poetry circles. Guest of literary clubs, events, Polish-Canadian benefit concerts and English language radio programs; former host of the annual live broadcast of the Heart of the City Spoken Word Showcase; creator and producer of the Summer Dreams of the Downtown Eastside. As featured poet, Tylman performed at the Gala of the Heart of the City Festival broadcasted in Vancouver by Shaw Cable TV in 2006.
Tylman is a bilingual writer. He is also a visual artist with a Master's degree in Painting from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków who in recent times has focussed on studies of the Canadian Westcoast Native mythology. He has been a graphic illustrator and won First Prize in Illustration from the Association of the Graphic Designers of Canada in 1991. Tylman was an ardent contributor to Wikipedia with the username Poeticbent since 2006.
The poetry of Richard Tylman, intellectual and thought-provoking, moves freely between the conventions of philosophical treatise and North American romanticism. The selections from his Canadian work in the Polish language spanning two decades were published and distributed in Poland by Wydawnictwo Nowy Świat (The New World Publishing), under the title Koty marcowe (The Felines of March).
