Editing Bill Bissett (section)

==Early life and education==
Bissett was born in [[City of Halifax|Halifax]], [[Nova Scotia]]. The son of a judge, [[Frederick William Bissett]], Bissett had a tumultuous childhood, often ran away from home as a child, and developed peritonitis. Bissett faced several years of hospitalizations and also experienced bullying because of his sexuality, “I was trying to do as well as I could, and getting snowballs thrown at me with rocks in them because I was gay and I was getting beaten up and having really no friends.”<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dailyxtra.com/poetic-enigma-22329|title=Poetic Enigma: The daring eccentricity of bill bissett|last=Gatchalian|first=CE|date=June 8, 2005|website=[[Xtra!|Xtra]]|access-date=September 24, 2019}}</ref>

He attended [[Dalhousie University]] (1956)<ref name="ABCbissett">{{Cite web|url = http://www.abcbookworld.com/view_essay.php?id=216|title = The Life and Times of bill bissett|date = 2007|access-date = January 12, 2015|website = ABC Bookworld|last = Twigg|first = Alan|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150113004328/http://www.abcbookworld.com/view_essay.php?id=216|archive-date = January 13, 2015|url-status = dead}}</ref> and the [[University of British Columbia]] (1963–1965).<ref name="LitEncycBissett">{{Cite book|title = Encyclopedia of literature in Canada|last = New|first = W.H.|publisher = University of Toronto|year = 2002|location = Toronto|pages = 121}}</ref>  After completing course requirements for his two majors in English and Philosophy, Bissett dropped out of both universities to avoid academic constraints.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

In 1962, he had one child with partner Martina Clinton, Ooljah Bissett<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://boppin.com/2005/08/bissett.html|title=bissett|date=2005-08-18|website=brian nation: the hot dog palace never closes|access-date=2020-01-24}}</ref> (whom later in life changed her name to Michelle), who died in 2012 from an unknown illness.