Ken Howe was born in Edmonton, grew up in Beaverlodge, Alberta, and lived in Regina for eight years, playing principal horn with the Regina Symphony, before relocating to Toronto. He has studied German, philosophy, education and translation, has a degree in Music, and was a Jesuit novice for two years. Armed with a "reverberator" made out of a five-foot tube, springs and 7-Eleven Slurpee cups, Ken's cross-Canada tour for Household Hints for the End of Time - winner of the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry and shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Award - initiated many fellow poets and other spectators to enthusiastically declare him as one of the most entertaining writers in the country.