Jono Borden

20 October 1987

Provocateur-Poet JONO BORDEN is a Canadian poet, novelist, lyricist, screenwriter, and filmmaker whose transgressive lyricism acts as a corrosive agent upon the sterile surface of contemporary discourse. Jagged, subversive, mercilessly, hauntingly *avant-garde.* ​Borden’s voluminous outpouring is a calculated smattering and smashing of traditions, conjuring reactions as diverse and divisive as the [ghosts](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/biography/influences) he invites to the table. Always with an axe to grind—an [ancestral](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/biography/ancestors) [inheritance](https://linktr.ee/jonobordengenealogy) from cousin [Lizzie](https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lizzie-Borden-American-murder-suspect), he is far more adept at swinging hatchets than burying them. He splits his opponents with deep-hitting wit, unashamed to articulate the forbidden and the profane. What he makes deviates; what he touches ruptures. ​Disturber-of-Shit Borden’s bibliography, discography, and filmography form a sprawling, occult archive of fourteen books, two discs, and an ever-expanding cinematic catalogue. His canon includes the *début [Simple Simony](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/simple-simony)* (2013), the verse novel [*Isaac & Iskandar*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/isaac-and-iskandar) (2015), the double album [*7×5 (Uncut)*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/7x5) (2016), [*Between the Silver and the Mirror*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/between-the-silver-and-the-mirror) (2017), the novel [*Where the Willow Does Not Weep*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/where-the-willow-does-not-weep) (2019), the esoteric bibliography [*Catalogus Librorum Impressorum Bibliothecæ Ionathani Bordenii*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/catalogus-bibliothecae-ionathani-bordenii) (2021), the collection [*Diamond & Dagger*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/diamond-and-dagger) (2021), the Byron biopic [*Lightning in the Veins*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/lightning-in-the-veins) (2023), the twisted tales of [*Cor Hydræ*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/cor-hydrae) (2023), the horror of [*Prologue to an Echo*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/prologue-to-an-echo) (2024), the polemic [*Bullets in the Temple*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/bullets-in-the-temple) (2025), and the infernal descent of [*New Pornographies: A Backward Path to Heaven*](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature/p/new-pornographies) (2027). ​His recent cinematic incursions include the original screenplays [*360 Degrees of Self-Interest*](https://jonoborden.com/literature/p/360-degrees-of-self-interest) (2026) and [*The Geometry of Ruin*](https://jonoborden.com/literature/p/the-geometry-of-ruin) (2026), alongside the definitive collection [*The Obsidian Mirror Trilogy: A Study in Stone and Shadow*](https://jonoborden.com/literature/p/the-obsidian-mirror-trilogy) (2026). Maker-of-Myth Referring to Borden as “brazen,” men of letters like [George Elliott Clarke](https://lop.parl.ca/About/Parliament/Poet/former-Poet-laureate7-e.html) have noted he is “[set to rise from obscurity](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/68cea68d6d807265249ce83d/d4ad15d2-9681-47a1-af02-9c783f8d65fb/img_0005-crop.png),” drawing lines of descent from Byron, Blake, Laforgue, Dylan, Cohen, and Hendrix—a “great, rock songsmith” with the necessary guts to stare into the abyss. ​Loud in his art and sphinx-like in his life, this scholar of religious and film studies practices the high [ceremonial arts](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/sorcery). As a committed individualist, he serves as his own [lens](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/biography/portraits), [designer](https://jonoborden.squarespace.com/literature), and architect. He orchestrates his empire through a constellation of entities: [Jono Borden Publishers, Inc.](https://jonoborden.com/literature) (the printed word), [Jono Borden Records, Inc.](https://jonobordenrecords.com/) (sonic disruption), [Ritualistic Pictures, Inc.](https://ritualisticpictures.com/) (the visual occult), [Aquilifer the Urban Hermit Spiritual Services, Inc.](https://aquilifertheurbanhermit.com/) (metaphysical interventions), and [Poeta Non Grata Music, Inc.](https://poetanongrata.com/) (the administration of rights and forbidden sounds). ​He lives, designs, and practices in Halifax, Nova Scotia, from where he continues to map the geometry of ruin.