George Swede

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.[1] 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.

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),[2] an initiative to get bright but disadvantaged students interested in going to university. This was achieved by enrolling Vaughan Road Academy students[3] in a university level introductory psychology course that Swede taught. Most graduated and many received scholarships to attend university.

Swede retired in 2006 and was awarded Honorary Life Membership by the Canadian Psychological Association in 2007. For the 2008-2009 term, he was named the Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives[4] 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.

Swede began writing poetry in the late 1960s and published in such journals as

• Antigonish Review[5]
• Canadian Forum;[6]
• Grain[7]
• New Quarterly[8]
• Open Letter[9]
• Piedmont Literary Review;[10]
• Quarry Magazine[11]
• Rampike[12]
• Tamarack Review[13]
• Toronto Life[14]

An interest in short form Japanese poetry began in 1976 when he was asked to review Makoto Ueda's Modern Japanese Haiku (University of Toronto Press, 1976).[15]

Swede then began publishing in such journals as

• Acorn[16]
• American Tanka[17]
• Cicada[18]
• Frogpond[19]
• Industrial Sabotage[20]
• Inkstone[21]
• Mainichi Daily News, Haiku in English[22]
• Modern Haiku[23]
• Simply Haiku[24]

In 1977, along with Betty Drevniok and Eric Amann, Swede co-founded Haiku Canada.[25] 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.[26]

A blending of his interests in poetry and psychology is illustrated by his refereed article in The International Handbook on Innovation, Poetic Innovation, which explores the psychological, sociological and cultural factors that determine whether someone becomes a professional poet.[27]

Swede's work has been reviewed in numerous literary magazines, such as

• Canadian Literature[28]
• Books in Canada[29]
• Canadian Children's Literature[30]

In-depth examinations of Swede's work have appeared in the following:

• Ryerson Magazine[31]
• Poetry Toronto[32]
• Origin[33]
• CJRT-FM: Contemporary Poets[34]
• What;[35]
• Canadian Author & Bookman[36]
• TVOntario: In Conversation With . . .[37]
• Blithe Spirit[38]
• BBC Radio 3: Close To Silence[39]
• Amanda Hill on George Swede[40]
• haijinx[41]
• Simply Haiku[42][43][44]

From 2008 to 2012 he was editor of Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America.[45]

He is a founder member of the Intercultural Renku Group.[46]

Swede is married with two children.

• Co-winner, High/Coo Press Mini-Chapbook Competition, 1982 for "All of Her Shadows"[47]
• Museum of Haiku Literature Award, "Frogpond", 5:4, 1983[48]
• Museum of Haiku Literature Award, "Frogpond", 8:2, 1985[48]
• "Our Choice", Canadian Children's Book Centre, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1992 [49]
• Museum of Haiku Literature Award, "Frogpond", 15:2, 1992[48]
• First Prize, "Mainichi Daily News" Haiku Contest in English, 1994 [49]
• Second Prize, "Mainichi Daily News" 125th Anniversary Haiku Contest, 1997 [49]
• Third Prize, Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest, Haiku Society of America, 1997[50]
• First Prize, The Snapshot Press Tanka Collection Competition 2005 for "First Light, First Shadows"ISBN 978-1-903543-19-1[51]
• Associate, The Haiku Foundation, 2008
• Honorary Curator, American Haiku Archives, 2008/09
• Second Prize, "Mainichi Daily News" Haiku Contest in English, 2008
• Scorpion Prize, "Roadrunner" 2010, 10:1 Judged by Marjorie Perloff [52]
• Second Prize (Tokusen), Foreign Language Category, Kusamakura International Haiku Competition, 2010[53]
• Honorable Mention, Touchstone Book Awards 2010 for "Joy In Me Still"[54]
• Grand Prize (Taisho), Foreign Language Category, Kusamakura International Haiku Competition, 2011[55]
• First Honorable Mention, Kanterman Book Awards 2011 for "Joy In Me Still"[56]
• Scorpion Prize, "Roadrunner" 2012, 12:2 Judged by Mark Wallace [57]
• Honorable Mention, Touchstone Book Awards 2014 for "micro haiku: three to nine syllables"[58]
• Honorable Mention, Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Award, Haiku Society of America, 2015, for "micro haiku: three to nine syllables" [59]
• First Prize, Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Award, Haiku Society of America, 2017, for ″Helices″ [60]
• One of 4 Winners, e-Chapbook Awards, 2019 for "Arithmetic" [61]

• Unwinding (Toronto, ON, Canada: Missing Link, 1974)
• Tell-tale Feathers (Fredericton, N. B., Canada: Fiddlehead, 1978) ISBN 0-920110-56-8
• Endless Jigsaw (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1978) ISBN 0-88823-015-X
• A Snowman, Headless (Fredericton, N. B., Canada: Fiddlehead, 1979) ISBN 0-920110-84-3
• (ed.), Canadian Haiku Anthology (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1979) ISBN 0-88823-017-6
• Wingbeats (La Crosse, WI, USA: Juniper, 1979)
• As Far As The Sea Can Eye (Toronto, ON, Canada: York, 1979) ISBN 0-920424-16-3
• The Case of the Moonlit Goldust (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1979) ISBN 0-88823-038-9 Illustrated by Danielle Jones
• This Morning's Mockingbird (Battle Ground, IN, USA: High/Coo, 1980) ISBN 0-913719-46-3; ISBN 978-0-913719-46-6
• The Case of the Missing Heirloom (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1980) ISBN 0-88823-027-3 Illustrated by Danielle Jones
• with Anita Krumins, Quillby, The Porcupine Who Lost His Quills (Toronto: Three Trees Press, 1980) ISBN 0-88823-019-2 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) ISBN 0-88823-044-3 Illustrated by Danielle Jones
• The Modern English Haiku (Toronto: Columbine Editions, 1981) ISBN 0-919561-00-4 Illustrated by Aiko Suzuki
• All of Her Shadows (Battle Ground, IN, USA: High/Coo, 1982) ISBN 0-913719-55-2; ISBN 978-0-913719-55-8
• The Case of the Downhill Theft (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1982) ISBN 0-88823-049-4 Illustrated by Paul Kantorek
• Binary Poem (Toronto, ON, Canada: Curvd H&Z, 1982)
• Undertow (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1982) ISBN 0-88823-050-8
• Biased Sample (Toronto: The League of Canadian Poets, 1982)
• Tick Bird: Poems for Children (Toronto, ON, Canada: Three Trees, 1983) ISBN 0-88823-064-8 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) 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)[62]
• (ed. with Terry Ann Carter), Erotic Haiku: Of Skin On Skin (Windsor, ON, Canada: Black Moss Press, 2017) ISBN 978-0-88753-577-2
• Arithmetic[63]
• Endangered Metaphors(Højby, Denmark: Bones Library, 2020)[64]

• Personal Website