George Swede


George Swede 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.

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. When his stepfather died in 1950, Swede moved with his mother to Vancouver, where he finished junior high and high school. 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 earned an M.A. at Dalhousie University with a published thesis.
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. From 1970 to 1975 he served as Director for Developmental Psychology at Ryerson Open College, a virtual university which broadcast lectures by radio and TV from 1970 to 1975; and from 1993 to 2000 he was engaged in Ryerson University Now, an initiative to get bright but disadvantaged students interested in going to university. This was achieved by enrolling Vaughan Road Academy students 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 at the California State Library in Sacramento, California.
The George Swede Papers, thus far from 1968 to 2023, are at the Fisher Library, University of Toronto. His papers are also held at the Archives & Special Collections, Toronto Metropolitan University.
Swede began writing free verse in the late 1960s, and was published in journals including:
  • Antigonish Review
  • Canadian Forum;
  • Grain
  • New Quarterly
  • Open Letter
  • Piedmont Literary Review
  • Quarry Magazine
  • Rampike
  • Tamarack Review
  • Toronto Life
Swede's interest in the haiku began in 1976 when he was asked to review Makoto Ueda's Modern Japanese Haiku.
Swede then began publishing in such journals as:
In 1977, along with Betty Drevniok and Eric Amann, Swede co-founded Haiku Canada. 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 of Ashvamegh, Swede spoke about the poets who have influenced him, including Dylan Thomas, Leonard Cohen, and Ezra Pound.
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.
Reviews of Swede's work have appeared in numerous literary magazines as well as publications that emphasize literary criticism:
  • Canadian Literature
  • Books in Canada
  • Canadian Children's Literature
In-depth analyses of Swede's work have appeared in the following periodicals:
  • Ryerson Magazine
  • Poetry Toronto
  • Origin
  • CJRT-FM: Contemporary Poets
  • What;
  • Canadian Author & Bookman
  • TVOntario: In Conversation With...
  • Blithe Spirit
  • BBC Radio 3: Close To Silence
  • Amanda Hill on George Swede
  • haijinx
  • Simply Haiku
  • Hirschfield, R.″George Swede: Haiku Master & Secular Contemplative″ Beshara MagazineIssue 22, 2022, United Kingdom, 15 pars.
  • Hirschfield, R. ″Discovering George Swede: The Timeless World of Haiku.″ ″3rd Act Magazine″ Winter 2022/23, U.S.A., 21 pars.
  • Hirschfield, R. "The Haiku Journey of a Secular Contemplative."
  • Hirschfield, R. "The Death Haiku of George Swede."
Swede's major editorial position was from 2008 to 2012 as editor of Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America.

Awards

  • Co-winner, High/Coo Press Mini-Chapbook Competition, 1982 for All of Her Shadows
  • Museum of Haiku Literature Award, Frogpond, 5:4, 1983
  • Museum of Haiku Literature Award, Frogpond, 8:2, 1985
  • "Our Choice", Canadian Children's Book Centre, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1991, 1992
  • Museum of Haiku Literature Award, Frogpond, 15:2, 1992
  • First prize, Mainichi Daily News Haiku Contest in English, 1994
  • Second prize, Mainichi Daily News 125th Anniversary Haiku Contest, 1997
  • Third prize, Harold G. Henderson Haiku Contest, Haiku Society of America, 1997
  • First prize, The Snapshot Press Tanka Collection Competition 2005 for First Light, First Shadows
  • 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
  • Second prize, Foreign Language Category, Kusamakura International Haiku Competition, 2010
  • Honorable mention, Touchstone Book Awards 2010 for Joy In Me Still
  • Grand prize, Foreign Language Category, Kusamakura International Haiku Competition, 2011
  • First honorable mention, Kanterman Book Awards 2011 for Joy In Me Still
  • Scorpion Prize, "Roadrunner" 2012, 12:2, judged by Mark Wallace
  • Honorable mention, Touchstone Book Awards 2014 for micro haiku: three to nine syllables
  • Honorable mention, Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Award, Haiku Society of America, 2015, for micro haiku: three to nine syllables
  • First prize, Mildred Kanterman Merit Book Award, Haiku Society of America, 2017, for Helices
  • One of 4 winners, e-Chapbook Awards, 2019, for Arithmetic
  • 3rd place, The Marianne Bluger Book and Chapbook Awards 2024 for ''The Way A Poem Emerges: A Haiku Trinity & Beyond''