Swede, George

George Swede (Latvian: Juris Švēde), (born as Juris Puriņš, November 20, 1940 in Riga, Latvia) is a 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.

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. 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), 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 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 at the California State Library in Sacramento, California.

Swede began writing poetry in the late 1960s.

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).

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.

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.

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

Swede is married with two children.