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Biography: George Swede, Guest Editor

Dr. George Swede confesses that in his first year of teaching psychology, he found himself obsessively writing poetry. His first poem was written and published in 1968, and in those beginnings, he would seek out some secluded place to write verse for one or two hours a day. His interest developed into an avocation which has benefited him with new and different perspectives, especially on issues concerning his studies in the psychology of creativity. Dr. Swede's first collection of poetry was written in 1974. Two years later, he was introduced to haiku upon being asked to review The Modern Japanese Haiku. While he had previously written imagistic poetry, he was unfamiliar with haiku. His curiosity and bent for learning plunged him into research at the Rare Books Library of the University of Toronto. During the course of his investigation, he discovered and eventually joined the haiku-writing subculture. By 1977, Dr. Swede, with Eric Amann and Betty Drevniok, co-founded Haiku Canada for the promotion, creation and appreciation of haiku and its related forms, encouraging community among haiku poets, internationally. Since those early years, his haiku and senryu have been featured in numerous journals throughout the world, and over thirty collections of his poems have been published. An eminent scholar and editor of haiku, he has been awarded on numerous occasions. Cor van den Heuvel, editor of The Haiku Anthology has said that his poems "would be the envy of great comedy writers like Woody Allen or Mel Brooks."

While a major focus of his creative writing is haiku and related poetry, his many works in other types of poetry, fiction, non-fiction and children's poetry books have also been widely published. He is also a sought-after speaker. As a teacher of teachers, Dr. Swede conducts poetry workshop classes which present the broad spectrum of poetry...one word poems, long poems concrete poetry, moving words one into another, rhyming, non-rhyming...and any topic in the universe may be explored. He once explained, however, in Gendai Haiku, a Japanese publication: "during haiku composition, I feel more a part of the world than when I do other kinds of writing. I suspect this occurs because the creation of haiku requires paying attention to my immediate surroundings and recognizing their connections to me."

Born in Riga, Latvia in 1940, Dr. Swede has lived in Toronto, Canada since 1967. He is Chair of the Department of Psychology and School of Justice Studies at Ryerson Polytechnic University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

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George Swede has edited Canadian Haiku Anthology (Three Trees Press: Toronto, Ontario, 1979); The Modern English Haiku (Columbine Editions: Toronto, Ontario, 1981); Cicada Voices: Selected Haiku of Eric Amann (High/Coo Press: Battle Ground, Indiana, 1983); co-edited with Dr. Randy Brooks, Global Haiku: 25 Outstanding Poets (Iron Press: Northumberland, England).

Books and publications include:

 Endless Jigsaw (Toronto, Ontario: Three Trees Press, 1978); Tell-Tale Feathers (Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1978); A Snowman, Headless (Fredericton, N.B.: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 1979); Wingbeats (La Crosse, WI: Juniper Press, 1979); This Morning’s Mockingbird (Battle Ground, IN: High/Coo Press, 1980); Eye to Eye With a Frog (La Crosse, WI: Juniper Press, 1981); All of Her Shadows (Battle Ground, IN: High/Coo Press, 1982); Flaking Paint (Toronto, Ontario: Underwhich Editions, 1983); Frozen Breaths (Glen Burnie, MD: Wind Chimes, 1983); Tick Bird: Poems for Children (Toronto, Ontario: Three Trees Press, 1983); Time is Flies: Poems for Children (Toronto, Ontario: Three Trees Press, 1984); Night Tides (South Western Ontario Poetry, 1984); High Wire Spider: Poems for Children (Toronto, Ontario: Three Trees Press, 1986); Space Between (Wind Chimes, 1986); Eat a Rose Petal (Haiku Canada Sheet, Broadside 1987); Where Ever Factories Have Lawns (Gestura Press, 1988); Leaping Lizard (Three Trees Press, 1988); I Want to Lasso Time (Simon & Pierre, 1991); Leaving my Loneliness (King's Road Press, 1992); My Shadow Doing Something (Enfield, CT: Tiny Poems Press, 1997); Leaving My Loneliness (Claire Pointe, Quebec: King’s Road Press, 1992); Creativity: A New Psychology (Letters Bookshop, 1996); Five O'Clock Shadows (Letters Bookshop, 1996); Almost Unseen, The Selected Haiku of George Swede (Brooks Books; Decatur Illinois, 2000).

Selected Anthologies:

The Universe is One Poem (Simon and Pierre, 1990); There Will Always Be a Sky (Nelson/Houghton Mifflin, 1993); Tanka Splendour (AHA! Books, 1997); Editor, Global Haiku (Mosaic Press, 2000).

Awards include: Co-winner, mini-chapbook competition, for All of Her Shadows, 1982; Canadian Children's Book Centre, Our Choice, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1992; Museum of Haiku Literature Award, 1983, 1985, 1992; Haiku in English Contest, first prize, free style, Tokyo 1993; Mainichi Daily News '93; Haiku in English Contest, first prize, 1994; Haiku Society of America Henderson Haiku Contest, third prize, 1997; Mainichi 125th Anniversary Haiku Contest, second prize, 1997; Japan Air Lines Foundation Grant, 1997.

Read More Swede:

http://home.ican.net/~gswede/

http://www.epiphanous.org/mark/haiku/swede.definition.html

http://www.millikin.edu/haiku/writerprofiles/HillOnSwede.html

Read George Swede's Haiku Selections

 

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