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Rienzi Crusz was born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on October 17, 1925. His early education was in English, and he was exposed to much of the canon of Western literature, including Shakespeare, Milton, and Dylan Thomas, which would later influence his writing.
Crusz received a Bachelor's degree in history at the University of Colombo in 1948 and then studied library sciences at the University of London as a Colombo Plan scholar. After returning from England, he worked at the Central Bank of Ceylon as chief reference librarian until immigrating to Canada in 1965. Shortly after his arrival, he completed a Bachelor's degree in library science at the University of Toronto and a Master's degree in history at the University of Waterloo. Crusz remained at the University of Waterloo and became the senior reference and collections development librarian, retiring in 1993.
He began penning poetry after settling in Toronto. While he has many works, Crusz is best known for his poetry that illuminates his experience of immigration, migrancy, and the alienation of exile. In addition to poetry, Crusz has written several guides for library users, including a bibliography of Ralph Nader.
He continued to live in Waterloo, Ontario until his death in 2017.
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Created by Alston So, March 2026.