A critic, poet, and teacher, Michael Brian Oliver has taught at various institutions across Canada, including Collège Maillet in St. Basile, New Brunswick, the University of British Columbia, John Abbott College near Montreal, and the University of New Brunswick in Saint John. He considers himself "A writer who teaches instead of a teacher who writes."He has published several chapbooks, critical reviews in several journals, and wrote Poet's Progress, the first critical study of Alden Nowlan's Poetry.