Canadian writer
George Swede (Latvian: Juris Švēde), (born as Juris Puriņš, November 20, 1940 in Riga, Latvia) is a Latvian Canadian psychologist, poet and children's writer who lives in Toronto, Ontario. He is a major figure in English-language haiku, known for his wry, poignant observations [1]
[2]
[3]
Life
In 1947, Swede arrived with his mother and stepfather from post-WW II Europe to live with his maternal grandparents on a fruit farm in Oyama, British Columbia and, when his stepfather died in 1950, Swede moved with his mother to Vancouver where he finished junior high and high school.[4] Then he studied at the University of British Columbia, where he graduated with a B.A. in Psychology in 1964. After that, he worked briefly as a psychologist at B.C. Penitentiary in New Westminster. In 1965, he got an M.A. at Dalhousie University with a published thesis [5]
From 1966 to 1967, Swede was a psychology instructor at Vancouver City College, after which he worked as a school psychologist at the Scarborough Board of Education in Toronto until 1968.
He resumed his academic career at Ryerson University, where he stayed as member of the psychology department from 1968 to 2006 (as chair from 1998 to 2003). From 1970 to 1975 he served as Director for Developmental Psychology at Ryerson Open College, a virtual university which broadcast lectures by radio (on CJRT-FM) and TV (CBC and CTV) from 1970 to 1975; and from 1993 to 2000 he was engaged in Ryerson University Now (RUN),[6] an initiative to get bright but disadvantaged students interested in going to university. This was achieved by enrolling Vaughan Road Academy students[7] in a university level introductory psychology course that Swede taught. Most graduated and many received scholarships to attend university.
Swede was named the Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives for the 2008-09 term in recognition of his contributions to haiku [8] at the California State Library in Sacramento, California.
The George Swede Papers, thus far from 1968 to 2012, are at the Fisher Library, University of Toronto.
See also his papers at the Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Metropolitan University [9]
SWEDE BEGAN WRITING FREE VERSE in the late 1960s and published in such journals as
SWEDE'S INTEREST IN THE HAIKU Japanese poetry began in 1976 when he was asked to review Makoto Ueda's Modern Japanese Haiku (University of Toronto Press, 1976).[20]
Swede then began publishing in such journals as
In 1977, along with Betty Drevniok and Eric Amann, Swede co-founded Haiku Canada.[30]
At its 30th anniversary held in Ottawa in May 2007, Haiku Canada awarded Swede an Honorary Life Membership.
In an interview with Alok Mishra, Editor-in-Chief, Ashvamegh, Swede spoke about the poets who have influenced him—Dylan Thomas, Leonard Cohen, Ezra Pound and others.[31]
SWEDE COMBINED HIS INTERESTS IN POETRY AND PSYCHOLOGY when he published an article revealing the influences, starting in childhood, that motivate someone to become a poet:[32]
REVIEWS OF SWEDE'S WORK have appeared in numerous literary magazines as well as publications that emphasize literary criticism:
IN-DEPTH ANALYSES of Swede's work have appeared in the following periodicals:
SWEDE'S MAJOR EDITORIAL POSITION was from 2008 to 2012 as editor of Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America.[53]
