George Swede

George Swede (Template:Langx), (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 <ref>van den Heuvel, C. (ed.). The Haiku Antholgy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, 234-241.</ref> <ref>van den Heuvel, C. (ed.). The Haiku Anthology. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999, 208-217</ref> <ref>Kacian, J., Rowland, P. & Burns, A. (eds.). Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013, 76-78.</ref>

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.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20071201203115/http://www.themercurypress.ca/?q=books%2Fimagination_action , Swede, G. Tracks in the Sand: Why Do We Write? pp. 56-61</ref> 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 <ref>Swede, G. & McNulty, J. "The influence of contextual cues upon the learning and retention of paired associates." Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1967, 21 (5), 394-408.</ref> 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),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> an initiative to get bright but disadvantaged students interested in going to university. This was achieved by enrolling Vaughan Road Academy students<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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 <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

SWEDE BEGAN WRITING FREE VERSE in the late 1960s and published in such journals as

• Antigonish Review<ref>http://www.antigonishreview.com/ , 1978, No.33</ref>
• Canadian Forum;<ref>1974, No. 644; 1976, No. 665</ref>
• Grain<ref>1976, 4:3</ref>
• New Quarterly<ref>http://www.tnq.ca/ , 1984, 4:2</ref>
• Open Letter<ref>http://publish.uwo.ca/~fdavey/history.htm , 1999, 10:6</ref>
• Piedmont Literary Review;<ref>1984, 9:1</ref>
• Quarry Magazine<ref>1970, Vol. 19:2; 1971, Vol. 20:2; 1974, Vol.23:3; 1985, 34:1</ref>
• Rampike<ref>http://web4.uwindsor.ca/rampike Template:Webarchive , 1986, Vol. 4:2&3, 5:1; 1988, Vol. 6:2; 1998, 10:1; 1999, Vol. 10:2</ref>
• Tamarack Review<ref>1971, No. 58</ref>
• Toronto Life<ref>https://secure.indas.on.ca/care/tlm/subscribe.php3?key=C08CGS Template:Webarchive , June, 1981</ref>

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).<ref>Swede, G. Tracks in the Sand: Why Do We Write? In Carol Malyon (ed.). Imagination in Action. Toronto: Mercury Press, 2007, p.59</ref>

Swede then began publishing in such journals as

• Acorn<ref>http://home.earthlink.net/~missias/Acorn.html Template:Webarchive , 2004, No. 12 to present</ref>
• American Tanka<ref>http://www.americantanka.com/ Template:Webarchive , 1996, No. 1 to present</ref>
• Cicada<ref>1977, 1:1 to 1981, 5:1</ref>
• Frogpond<ref>http://www.hsa-haiku.org/frogpond/index.html , 1982, 5:1 to the present</ref>
• Industrial Sabotage<ref>1982, issue 9, 16 issues through to issue 56, 1998</ref>
• Inkstone<ref>1982, 1:1 to 1991, 5:1</ref>
• Mainichi Shimbun, Haiku in English<ref>http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/haiku/archive/news/2009/08/20090721p2g00m0fe036000c.html Template:Dead link, March 1, 1982 to present</ref>
• Modern Haiku<ref>http://www.modernhaiku.org/ , 1977, 8:3 to the present</ref>
• Simply Haiku<ref>http://www.simplyhaiku.com/ , 2003, No. 3 to 2008, No. 1</ref>

In 1977, along with Betty Drevniok and Eric Amann, Swede co-founded Haiku Canada.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

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:<ref>Swede, G. "Poetic Innovation" in L. V. Shavinina (ed.), The International Handbook on Innovation. Oxford, UK: Pergamon, 2003, 471-484. The International Handbook on Innovation Template:Webarchive</ref>

REVIEWS OF SWEDE'S WORK have appeared in numerous literary magazines as well as publications that emphasize literary criticism:

• Canadian Literature<ref>http://www.canlit.ca/search.php?cmd=search&words=%5Cgeorge+swede&mode=fulltext&formsearch=Search Template:Dead link, 1985, No. 104; 1986, No. 111; 2001, No. 168; 2004, No. 183</ref>
• Books in Canada<ref>http://www.booksincanada.com/ , January, 1979 (by Pier Giorgio Di Cicco); 1984, 13:10, 1989, 18:3</ref>
• Canadian Children's Literature<ref>http://ccl.uwinnipeg.ca/ , 1986, No. 41; 1990, No. 59 (by Bert Almon); 1992, No. 67; 2003, Nos. 109-110</ref>

IN-DEPTH ANALYSES of Swede's work have appeared in the following periodicals:

• Ryerson Magazine<ref>1975, 1:2</ref>
• Poetry Toronto<ref>1981, No. 69</ref>
• Origin<ref>1982, 12:1</ref>
• CJRT-FM: Contemporary Poets<ref>http://www.jazz.fm/ , Part 1, January 5, 1984 (two hours); Part 2, January 12, 1984 (two hours)</ref>
• What;<ref>December, 1985</ref>
• Canadian Author & Bookman<ref>1992, 67:3</ref>
• TVOntario: In Conversation With . . .<ref>Template:Cite web, September 21, 1992 (45 minutes)</ref>
• Blithe Spirit<ref>1999, 9:2</ref>
• BBC Radio 3: Close To Silence<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/ , (with Stephen Gill) August 25, 2000</ref>
• Amanda Hill on George Swede<ref>Template:Cite web, Spring, 2001</ref>
• haijinx<ref>Template:Cite web, March, 2001</ref>
• Simply Haiku<ref>http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv1n3/swede.html , 2003, 1:3</ref><ref>http://simplyhaiku.com/SHv2n1/tanka/swede.html , 2004, 2:1</ref><ref>http://www.simplyhaiku.com/SHv4n4/senryu/senryuFeature.html , 2006, 4:4</ref>
• Hirschfield, R.″George Swede: Haiku Master & Secular Contemplative″ Beshara MagazineIssue 22, 2022, United Kingdom, 15 pars.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Hirschfield, R. ″Discovering George Swede: The Timeless World of Haiku.″ ″3rd Act Magazine″ Winter 2022/23, U.S.A., 21 pars.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Hirschfield, R. "The Haiku Journey of a Secular Contemplative."<ref>Parabola (magazine)| 2023, Vol. 48, No. 2, Summer, pp. 74-76</ref>
• Hirschfield, R. "The Death Haiku of George Swede."<ref>"Evergreen Review (magazine)/" 2024,

S/S 2024, U.S.A., 14 pars. Template:Cite web</ref> SWEDE'S MAJOR EDITORIAL POSITION was from 2008 to 2012 as editor of Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Awards

• Co-winner, High/Coo Press Mini-Chapbook Competition, 1982 for "All of Her Shadows"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Museum of Haiku Literature Award, "Frogpond", 5:4, 1983<ref name="museumawardscollection">Template:Cite web</ref>
• Museum of Haiku Literature Award, "Frogpond", 8:2, 1985<ref name="museumawardscollection" />
• "Our Choice", Canadian Children's Book Centre, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1992 <ref name="whoswhopoetry">Template:Cite book</ref>
• Museum of Haiku Literature Award, "Frogpond", 15:2, 1992<ref name="museumawardscollection" />
• First Prize, "Mainichi Daily News" Haiku Contest in English, 1994 <ref name="whoswhopoetry" />
• Second Prize, "Mainichi Daily News" 125th Anniversary Haiku Contest, 1997 <ref name="whoswhopoetry" />
• Third Prize, Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest, Haiku Society of America, 1997<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• First Prize, The Snapshot Press Tanka Collection Competition 2005 for "First Light, First Shadows"Template:ISBN<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Associate, The Haiku Foundation, 2008
• Honorary Curator, American Haiku Archives, 2008/09
• Second Prize, "Mainichi Daily News" Haiku Contest in English, 2008Template:Citation needed
• Scorpion Prize, "Roadrunner" 2010, 10:1 Judged by Marjorie Perloff <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Second Prize (Tokusen), Foreign Language Category, Kusamakura International Haiku Competition, 2010<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Honorable Mention, Touchstone Book Awards 2010 for "Joy In Me Still"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Grand Prize (Taisho), Foreign Language Category, Kusamakura International Haiku Competition, 2011<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• First Honorable Mention, Kanterman Book Awards 2011 for "Joy In Me Still"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Scorpion Prize, "Roadrunner" 2012, 12:2 Judged by Mark Wallace <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• Honorable Mention, Touchstone Book Awards 2014 for "micro haiku: three to nine syllables"<ref>http://www.thehaikufoundation.org/touchstone-archive-2014 Template:Dead link</ref>
• Honorable Mention, Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Award, Haiku Society of America, 2015, for "micro haiku: three to nine syllables" <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• First Prize, Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Award, Haiku Society of America, 2017, for ″Helices″ <ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• One of 4 Winners, e-Chapbook Awards, 2019 for "Arithmetic" <ref name="EBooks from Snapshot Press">Template:Cite web</ref>
• 3rd Place, The Marianne Bluger Book and Chapbook Awards 2024 for The Way A Poem Emerges: A Haiku Trinity & Beyond.<ref name= "Contests, Haiku Canada">Template:Cite web</ref>

Bibliography

• Unwinding (Toronto, ON, Canada: Missing Link, 1974)
• Tell-tale Feathers (Fredericton, N. B., Canada: Fiddlehead, 1978) Template:ISBN
• Endless Jigsaw (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1978) Template:ISBN
• A Snowman, Headless (Fredericton, N. B., Canada: Fiddlehead, 1979) Template:ISBN
• (ed.), Canadian Haiku Anthology (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1979) Template:ISBN
• Wingbeats (La Crosse, WI, USA: Juniper, 1979)
• As Far As The Sea Can Eye (Toronto, ON, Canada: York, 1979) Template:ISBN
• The Case of the Moonlit Goldust (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1979) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Danielle Jones
• This Morning's Mockingbird (Battle Ground, IN, USA: High/Coo, 1980) Template:ISBN; Template:ISBN
• The Case of the Missing Heirloom (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1980) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Danielle Jones
• with Anita Krumins, Quillby, The Porcupine Who Lost His Quills (Toronto: Three Trees Press, 1980) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Martin Lewis
• Eye to Eye with a Frog (La Crosse, WI, USA: Juniper, 1981)
• The Case of the Seaside Burglaries (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1981) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Danielle Jones
• The Modern English Haiku (Toronto: Columbine Editions, 1981) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Aiko Suzuki
• All of Her Shadows (Battle Ground, IN, USA: High/Coo, 1982) Template:ISBN; Template:ISBN
• The Case of the Downhill Theft (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1982) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Paul Kantorek
• Binary Poem (Toronto, ON, Canada: Curvd H&Z, 1982)
• Undertow (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1982) Template:ISBN
• Biased Sample (Toronto: The League of Canadian Poets, 1982)
• Tick Bird: Poems for Children (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1983) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Katherine Helmer
• Frozen Breaths (Glen Burnie, MD, USA: Wind Chimes, 1983)
• (ed.), Cicada Voices: Selected Haiku of Eric Amann 1966-1979 (Battle Ground, IN, USA: High/Coo, 1983) Template:ISBN
• Flaking Paint (Toronto, ON, Canada: Underwhich, 1983)
• Bifids (Toronto, ON Canada: CURVD H&Z, 1984)
• Night Tides (London, ON, Canada: South Western Ontario Poetry, 1984) Template:ISBN; Template:ISBN
• Time Is Flies: Poems for Children (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1984) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Darcia Labrosse
• Dudley and the Birdman (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1985) Template:ISBN) Illustrated by Gary McLaughlin
• Dudley and the Christmas Thief (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1986) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Allan and Deborah Drew-Brook-Cormack
• High Wire Spider: Poems for Children (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1986) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Victor Gad
• with Eric Amann, LeRoy Gorman, The Space Between (Glen Burnie, MD, USA: Wind Chimes, 1986) Template:ISBN
• I Eat a Rose Petal (Aylmer, QC, Canada: Haiku Canada, 1987)
• Multiple Personality (North Vancouver, BC, Canada: Silver Birch, 1987)
• Leaping Lizard: Poems for Children (Stratford, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1988) Template:ISBN Illustrated by Kimberley Hart
• with jwcurry, Where Even the Factories Have Lawns (Toronto, ON, Canada: Gesture, 1988) Template:ISBN
• I Throw Stones at the Mountain (Glen Burnie, MD, USA: Wind Chimes, 1988)
• Holes in My Cage: Poems for Young Adults (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1989) Template:ISBN
• (ed.),The Universe is One Poem: Four Poets Talk Poetry (Toronto, ON, Canada: Simon & Pierre, 1990) Template:ISBN
• I Want to Lasso Time (Toronto, ON, Canada: Simon & Pierre, 1991) Template:ISBN
• Leaving My Loneliness (Pointe Claire, QC, Canada: King's Road Press, 1992) Template:ISBN
• (ed.),There will Always be a Sky (Toronto, ON, Canada: Nelson Canada, 1993) Template:ISBN
• Creativity. A New Psychology (Toronto, ON, Canada: Wall & Emerson, 1993) Template:ISBN
• The Psychology of Art : An Experimental Approach (Toronto, ON, Canada: Canadian Scholar's, 1994) Template:ISBN
• with George Amabile, Leonard Gasparini, Seymour Mayne, and Ted Plantos, Five O'Clock Shadows (Toronto, ON, Canada: Letters Bookshop, 1996) Template:ISBN
• My Shadow Doing Something (Enfield, CT, USA: Tiny Poems, 1997)
• bugs (Napanee, ON, Canada: pawEpress, 1998)
• (ed. with Randy Brooks), Global Haiku: Twenty-Five Poets World-Wide (New York, NY, USA: Mosaic, 2000) Template:ISBN
• (ed. with Eva Tomaszewska, trans), Antologia Haiku Kanadyjskiego /"Canadian Haiku Anthology (Kraków, Poland: Wydawnictswo Krytiki Artsitycznej Miniatura, 2003) Template:ISBN
• Almost Unseen: Selected Haiku (Decatur, IL, USA: Brooks Books, 2000) Template:ISBN
• First Light, First Shadows (Liverpool, UK: Snapshot Press, 2006) Template:ISBN; Template:ISBN
• Joy In Me Still (Edmonton: Inkling Press, 2010) Template:ISBN
• White Thoughts, Blue Mind (Edmonton: Inkling Press, 2010) Template:ISBN
• (ed.), The Ultra Best Short Verse (Toronto: Beret Days Press, 2013) Template:ISBN
• embryo: eye poems (Toronto: Iņšpress, 2013) Template:ISBN
• (with Daniel Py, translator), Le Haïku moderne en Anglais (Rosny-sous-Bois: Éditions unicité, 2013) Template:ISBN Template:In lang
• micro haiku: three to nine syllables (Toronto: Iņšpress, 2014) Template:ISBN
• helices (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2016) Template:ISBN
• (ed.),The Ultra Best Short Verse 2016 (Toronto: Beret Days Press, 2017) Template:ISBN
• (with Francisco José Craveiro de Carvalho, translator), um mosquito no meu braço(Leça da Palmeira, Portugal: Poetas da Eufeme #03)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• (ed. with Terry Ann Carter), Erotic Haiku: Of Skin On Skin (Windsor, ON, Canada: Black Moss Press, 2017) Template:ISBN
• Arithmetic<ref name="EBooks from Snapshot Press"/>
• Endangered Metaphors(Højby, Denmark: Bones Library, 2020)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• (with Sina Sanjari, translator of 50 haiku into Persian)Mist At Both Ends Of The Bridge(Vancouver, B.C.:Shahrgon Magazine, pp. 19,20)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• The Way A Poem Emerges: A Haiku Trinity & Beyond (Toronto: Lett Press, 2022) Template:ISBN

External links

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