The Profane Earth is a series of poems exploring man's helplessness when confronted with the extraordinary dance of death, time, and sexuality. Alternating between dream landscapes and the narrative of daily life, between the animalistic and the rational, The Profane Earth explores the sacred nature of sorrow, decay, and desire. Ollivier Dyens is a writer whose universal poetry puts us in touch with the primal roots of humankind.

Ollivier Dyens is Founder and co-Director of McGill's Building 21, an open lab dedicated to rethinking higher education in the 21st century. From 2013-2018, he was Deputy Provost (Student Life and Learning) at McGill University where he is currently Full Professor in the Department of littératures de langue française, de traduction et de création. From 2008-2013 he held the position of Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning at Concordia University. Dyens is the author of thirteen books including La terreur et le sublime, published by XYZ, La Condition inhumaine, published by les Éditions Flammarion in Paris, and Metal and Flesh: The Evolution of Man, Technology Takes Over, published by MIT Press. Among his other publications are,

Les murs des planètes, suivi de la cathédrale aveugle (VLB Éditeur), shortlisted for the Revue Estuaire/Terrasses St-Denis prize for Poetry; Continent X, Vertige du Nouvel Occident (VLB Éditeur), longlisted for the prix Roberval; and The Profane Earth (Mansfield Press), long listed for the ReLit Award.

Ollivier Dyens' profile page