Bern Porter () is the “father of experimental Maine literature and artists,” born in Porter Settlement, Maine, in 1911, graduating from Colby College, with an M.S. Brown University. He was a physicist on cathrode ray tube technology before WWII, drafted for uranium separation work on the Manhattan Project, a job he quit after the Hiroshima bombing.
From 1944-1948 Porter and George Leite published the literary magazine “Circle 10.” He also published Henry Miller’s anti-war tract, “Murder the Murderers,” being the first U.S. publisher of Miller. He actively promoted and published other writers under Bern Porter Books.
Bern Porter developed his own art, including poetry, found poetry (“founds”), sound poetry, performance art, experimental essays, surrealistic photographs, collages, mail art, found sculpture and architectural sketches.
Porter aworked as a physicist on NASA’s Saturn V manned space project. Porter worked to integrate science and art, formally developed in his Sciart Mainfesto, and is the founder of the Institute for Advanced Thinking a network of non-academic scholars in various arts.
bernJames Schevill wrote 1992 Bern Porter biography – Where to Go, What to Do, When You are Bern Porter – a take-off on one of Porter’s own titles. The book has a lengthy bibliography, numerous photos of Porter and and his work, with a fairly long description of Porter’s writing and background.