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.