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]
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:
(ed.), Cicada Voices: Selected Haiku of Eric Amann 1966-1979 (Battle Ground, IN, USA: High/Coo, 1983) ISBN 0-913719-25-0
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) ISBN 0-919139-19-1; ISBN 978-0-919139-19-0
Time Is Flies: Poems for Children (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1984) ISBN 0-88823-090-7 Illustrated by Darcia Labrosse
Dudley and the Birdman (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1985) ISBN 0-88823-102-4) Illustrated by Gary McLaughlin
Dudley and the Christmas Thief (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1986) ISBN 0-88823-123-7 Illustrated by Allan and Deborah Drew-Brook-Cormack
High Wire Spider: Poems for Children (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1986) ISBN 0-88823-111-3 Illustrated by Victor Gad
with Eric Amann, LeRoy Gorman, The Space Between (Glen Burnie, MD, USA: Wind Chimes, 1986) ISBN 0-941190-16-1
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) ISBN 0-88823-136-9 Illustrated by Kimberley Hart
with jwcurry, Where Even the Factories Have Lawns (Toronto, ON, Canada: Gesture, 1988) ISBN 0-920585-12-4
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) ISBN 0-88823-147-4
(ed.),The Universe is One Poem: Four Poets Talk Poetry (Toronto, ON, Canada: Simon & Pierre, 1990) ISBN 0-88924-224-0
I Want to Lasso Time (Toronto, ON, Canada: Simon & Pierre, 1991) ISBN 978-0-88924-234-0
Leaving My Loneliness (Pointe Claire, QC, Canada: King's Road Press, 1992) ISBN 1-895557-03-8
(ed.),There will Always be a Sky (Toronto, ON, Canada: Nelson Canada, 1993) ISBN 0-17-604273-3
Creativity. A New Psychology (Toronto, ON, Canada: Wall & Emerson, 1993) ISBN 1-895131-11-1
The Psychology of Art : An Experimental Approach (Toronto, ON, Canada: Canadian Scholar's, 1994) ISBN 1-55130-036-2
with George Amabile, Leonard Gasparini, Seymour Mayne, and Ted Plantos, Five O'Clock Shadows (Toronto, ON, Canada: Letters Bookshop, 1996) ISBN 0-921688-13-X
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) ISBN 0-88962-713-4
(ed. with Eva Tomaszewska, trans), Antologia Haiku Kanadyjskiego /"Canadian Haiku Anthology (Kraków, Poland: Wydawnictswo Krytiki Artsitycznej Miniatura, 2003) ISBN 83-7081-447-6
Almost Unseen: Selected Haiku (Decatur, IL, USA: Brooks Books, 2000) ISBN 0-913719-99-4
First Light, First Shadows (Liverpool, UK: Snapshot Press, 2006) ISBN 1-903543-19-3; ISBN 978-1-903543-19-1
Joy In Me Still (Edmonton: Inkling Press, 2010) ISBN 978-0-9810725-5-5
White Thoughts, Blue Mind (Edmonton: Inkling Press, 2010) ISBN 978-0-9810725-6-2
(ed.), The Ultra Best Short Verse (Toronto: Beret Days Press, 2013) ISBN 978-1-897497-77-7
embryo: eye poems (Toronto: Iņšpress, 2013) ISBN 978-0-9881179-2-1
(with Daniel Py, translator), Le Haïku moderne en Anglais (Rosny-sous-Bois: Éditions unicité, 2013) ISBN 978-2919232512 (in French)
micro haiku: three to nine syllables (Toronto: Iņšpress, 2014) ISBN 978-0-9881179-0-7
helices (Winchester, VA: Red Moon Press, 2016) ISBN 978-1-936848-70-6
(ed.),The Ultra Best Short Verse 2016 (Toronto: Beret Days Press, 2017) ISBN 978-1-926495-37-8
(with Francisco José Craveiro de Carvalho, translator), um mosquito no meu braço(Leça da Palmeira, Portugal: Poetas da Eufeme #03)[69]
(ed. with Terry Ann Carter), Erotic Haiku: Of Skin On Skin (Windsor, ON, Canada: Black Moss Press, 2017) ISBN 978-0-88753-577-2
(with Sina Sanjari, translator of 50 haiku into Persian)Mist At Both Ends Of The Bridge(Vancouver, B.C.:Shahrgon Magazine, pp. 19,20)[71]
The Way A Poem Emerges: A Haiku Trinity & Beyond (Toronto: Lett Press, 2022) ISBN 9780988117938
External linksedit
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Referencesedit
^van den Heuvel, C. (ed.). The Haiku Antholgy. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986, 234-241.
^van den Heuvel, C. (ed.). The Haiku Anthology. New York: W.W. Norton, 1999, 208-217
^Kacian, J., Rowland, P. & Burns, A. (eds.). Haiku in English: The First Hundred Years. New York: W.W. Norton, 2013, 76-78.
^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
^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.
^"Outreach initiatives build bridges and make university education accessible". Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved 2009-10-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
^http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/haiku/archive/news/2009/08/20090721p2g00m0fe036000c.html [permanent dead link], March 1, 1982 to present
^http://www.modernhaiku.org/ , 1977, 8:3 to the present
^http://www.simplyhaiku.com/ , 2003, No. 3 to 2008, No. 1
^"About Haiku Canada". Archived from the original on July 6, 2008.
^"George Swede Canadian Poet Interview Ashvamegh". Ashvamegh. May 2016.
^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 Archived 2009-07-12 at the Wayback Machine
^"Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-09-17. Retrieved 2009-10-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link), September 21, 1992 (45 minutes)