From Wikipedia: Shane .L. Koyczan (b. 22 May 1976) is a poet. He was born in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, and grew up in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. He is the first international performer to win the Individual Championship title at the National Poetry Slam 2000 in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Shane is a dynamic and charismatic artist whose performances are jaw-dropping in their expressive power. His delivery follows that of slam poetry and his performances and personae are at the vanguard of the live poetry circuit in the U.S., Canada & the UK. His written work has been well received in Canada & the UK. The initial print-run for his book Visiting Hours dwarfed the industry standards for poetry books. Visiting Hours was recommended as a Book of the Year 2005 by the Guardian and the Globe and Mail. Together with Mighty Mike McGee and C. R. Avery, he is the co-founder of spoken word, "talk rock" trio, Tons of Fun University. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.