1905 – Wobblies Industrial Workers of the World founded

1952 – Notre Dame College (BC’s second degree-granting institution) established in Nelson, a small private institution operated by the Catholic Church

1963 – Notre Dame expands somewhat to become Notre Dame University, (with 750 students by 1969)

Catholic Church sells the school to the government for 1$ with the provision that it remain a university

1978 – L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E magazine founded by Charles Bernstein and Bruce Andrews

1978 – David Thompson University Centre is created on the site of the defunct Notre Dame University in Nelson BC under the shared administration of Selkirk College and the University of Victoria Its focus is as an undergraduate Fine Arts college with the former Kootenay School of the Arts (printmaking, ceramics, painting, and sculpture) providing the core and supplemented by new programs in theatre, music, and writing Fred Wah developed the writing program and coordinated it until 1982, when Colin Browne became coordinator Faculty during the six years included Fred Wah, Stephanie Judy, David McFadden, Tom Wayman,, Colin Browne, Paulette Jiles, Margaret Hollingsworth, Audrey Thomas, Patrick Walsh, Fraser Sutherland, John Newlove, and Sean Virgo

1979 – Writing Magazine founded by David W McFadden, Fred Wah and Julian Ross

1979 – Margaret Thatcher becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1980 – First issue of Writing magazine published Edited by David McFadden; last regular issue of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E magazine

1980 – Ronald Reagan becomes president of the United States

1982 - Final issue of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E published as a special number of Open Letter (5:1)

1983 – Social Credit (SOCRED) government elected in BC, begin implementation of socially destructive "restraint" budget, including massive cuts to social programs, and education

1983 – Editorship of Writing passes to John Newlove Writing 6 published, Spring 1983

1983 – Editorship of Writing passes to Colin Browne Writing 7 is published, Fall 1984

1984 – SOCREDs decide to close DTUC; students are offered degree-completion at University of Victoria

1984 – A 96-day occupation of the David Thompson Library by 7 volunteers as well as several demonstrations from Nelson residents prevented the removal of the Library Collection by the Provincial Government; protests fail to re-open DTUC

1984 – Massive protests against the SOCRED budget sweep across BC Serious threat of a general strike by BC unions Strike is averted when union leader Jack Munroe makes a covert deal with the government

1984 – DTUC closes in May Kootenay School of Writing founded in Vancouver and Nelson simultaneously Instructors and personnel in the first season include: Vancouver: Colin Browne, Gail Scott, Brian Fawcett, Jeff Derksen, Calvin Wharton, Alicia Priest, Gary Whitehead, Tom Wayman Nelson: Paulette Jiles, Fred Wah

1984 – Raddle Moon founded by editor Susan Clark 1984 – Raddle Moon will run 20 issues, until 2003

1984 - Frank Davey and Fred Wah establish SwiftCurrent, the world's first literary e-journal, as a digital database held on a UNIX-based VAX 11-750 computer located at York University; SwiftCurrent would continue until 1990

1984 – Brian Mulroney becomes Prime Minister of Canada

1985 – KSW gets its first Vancouver address: #105 - 1045 West Broadway

1985 – August New Poetics Colloquium

1986 – A KSW baseball team, The Friendly Club, joins the Vancouver writer’s baseball league The Kosmic League Ball games every Sunday provide a crucial social nexus for the interaction of competing writing communities and writers of different ages The Friendly Club eventually splits into a second team, Blind Trout The older generation play for The Bad Backs

1986 – August Split/Shift conference

1986 – Expo ‘86 in Vancouver, initiating major shifts in the economic and cultural makeup of Vancouver

1986 – Artspeak Gallery founded by Erin O’Brien, as an offshoot of the KSW

1988 – Leech Books founded; first title: Seija, by Susumu Kamefuchi

1989 – Fissure Books founded by Susan Lord; publishes its first title, You Too, Nicky, by bpNichol

1986 – Gordon Campbell elected mayor of Vancouver

1987 – Tsunami Editions founded by Lary Bremner, picking up on a suggestion from Peter Culley that Vancouver needed such a press; first batch of Tsunami titles published: Metaflowers, by Arni Runar Haraldsson; Fruit Dots, by Peter Culley; Verbose, by Gerald Creede; Jump/Cut, by Lary Timewell; Until, by Jeff Derksen; How Two, by Kathryn MacLeod

1987 – KSW moves headquarters to #306 - 152 West Hastings, above a military surplus store

1987 – Susan Howe is the first writer to visit KSW on the "Visiting Foreign Artist" program Writers conduct workshops, give talks, a reading, and hold office hours

1988 – Second "Visiting Foreign Artist" residency, with Lyn Hejinian

1988 – Death of bpNichol; the news hits the Vancouver poetry scene during a baseball game between The Friendly Club and The Bad Backs

1989 – Editorship of Writing is passed on to Jeff Derksen and Nancy Shaw; Writing 23/24 is published

1989 – Anthology "East of Main" published, edited by Tom Wayman and Calvin Wharton, featuring a generous selection of work by young KSW-associated writers

1989 – Third "Visiting Foreign Artist" residency, with Charles Bernstein

1989 – Ronald Reagan's second term as US president ends

1990 – Proprioception Books, a bookstore devoted to poetry, poetics, theory and philosophy, sold to Lisa Robertson by Charles Olson scholar Ralph Maud

1990 – Fourth "Visiting Foreign Artist" residency, with Bruce Andrews

1990 – Margaret Thatcher resigns

1991 – SOCRED government voted out of power

1991 – Fifth "Visiting Foreign Artist" residency, with Abigail Child

1991 – Gordon Campbell is voted out of the mayorship

1992 – Tsunami Editions publishes its first full-length book, Kevin Davies’ Pause Button

1992 – Sprang Texts, a chapbook imprint of Raddle Moon, is founded by Susan Clark; first title published: Catherine Bennett, 3 Works

1993 – Brian Mulroney voted out of office

1996 - As a fundraising drive, the KSW sells obviously fake BAs, MAs, and PhDs; this sparks an unexpectedly intense backlash that included a boycott of the KSW by the UBC English Department, considerable moral outrage among some audience members and 2 cease-and-desist letters from the Ministry of Education; fundraiser is successful