David Whyte (born 2 November 1955) is an Anglo-Irish poet. He has said that all of his poetry and philosophy are based on "the conversational nature of reality". His book ''The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America'' (1994) topped the best-seller charts in the United States.

Life and work

Whyte's mother was from

Waterford Waterford ( ) is a City status in Ireland, city in County Waterford in the South-East Region, Ireland, south-east of Ireland. It is located within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster. The city is situated at the head of Waterford H ...

, Ireland, and his father was a

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

man.David Whyte , Overview
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. .
''The Irish Times'' 24 May 2005 He attributes his poetic interest to both the songs and the poetry of his mother's Irish heritage and to the landscape of

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

. He grew up in West Yorkshire and has commented that he had "a Wordsworthian childhood", in the fields and woods and on the moors.Whyte, David, Asilomar Talk 2012. Whyte has a degree in

marine zoology Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine current power * Marine debris * Marine energy * Marine habitats * Mar ...

from

Bangor University Bangor University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. It was established by Royal charter, Royal Charter in 1885 as the University College of North Wales (UCNW; ), and in 1893 ...

.American Library of Congress profile and audio file
During his twenties, Whyte worked as a naturalist and lived in the

Galápagos Islands The Galápagos Islands () are an archipelago of volcanic islands in the Eastern Pacific, located around the equator, west of the mainland of South America. They form the Galápagos Province of the Republic of Ecuador, with a population of sli ...

, where he experienced a near drowning on the southern shore of Hood Island. He led anthropological and natural history expeditions in the

Andes The Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (; ) are the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range ...

, the Amazon and the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya ( ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the Earth's highest peaks, including the highest, Mount Everest. More than list of h ...

.David Whyte official website
Many Rivers. Whyte moved to the United States in 1981 and began a career as a poet and speaker in 1986.''Harvard Business Review'' May 2007
/ref> From 1987, he began taking his poetry and philosophy to larger audiences, including consulting and lecturing on organisational leadership models in the US and UK exploring the role of creativity in business.''A Blessing in Disguise: 39 Life Lessons from Today's Greatest Teachers''
(2008), Penguin, p. 285, . He has worked with companies such as

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

AT&T AT&T Inc., an abbreviation for its predecessor's former name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the w ...

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Toyota is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

The Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of the Royal Flying Corps (R ...

and the

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

accountancy group. Work and vocation, and "Conversational Leadership" are the subjects of several of Whyte's prose books, including ''Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as Pilgrimage of Identity'', ''The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self and Relationship'' and ''The Heart Aroused: Poetry and the Preservation of The Soul in Corporate America'', which topped the business best seller lists, selling 155,000 copies. Whyte has written ten volumes of poetry and four books of prose. ''Pilgrim'' is based on the human need to travel, "From here to there". ''The House of Belonging'' looks at the same human need for home. He describes his collection ''Everything Is Waiting For You'' (2003) as arising from the grief at the loss of his mother. ''Pilgrim'' was published in May 2012. His latest book is ''Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words'', an attempt to "rehabilitate" many everyday words we often use only in pejorative or unimaginative ways. He has also written for newspapers, including ''The Huffington Post'' and ''The Observer''. He leads group poetry and walking journeys regularly in Ireland, England and Italy. Whyte has an honorary degree from Neumann College, Pennsylvania, and from

Royal Roads University Royal Roads University (also referred to as RRU or Royal Roads) is a public university with its main campus in Colwood, British Columbia, Canada. The university is located at Hatley Park National Historic Site on Vancouver Island and is the succ ...

, British Columbia, and is Associate Fellow of both

Templeton College Templeton College was one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, ...

, Oxford, and

Saïd Business School Saïd Business School (Oxford Saïd or SBS) is the business school of the University of Oxford. The school is a provider of management education. Business and management classes started at Oxford in 1965 when the Centre of Management Studies, ...

, Oxford. Whyte has spent a portion of every year for the last twenty-five years in County Clare, Ireland. Over the years and over a number of volumes of poetry he has built a cycle of poems that evoke many of the ancient pilgrimage sites of The Burren mountains of North Clare and of Connemara. Whyte runs the "Many Rivers" organisation and "Invitas: The Institute for Conversational Leadership", which he founded in 2014. He has lived in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

and on

Whidbey Island Whidbey Island (historical spellings Whidby, Whitbey, or Whitby) is the largest of the islands composing Island County, Washington, Island County, Washington (state), Washington, in the United States, and the largest island in Washington stat ...

and currently lives in the US Pacific North West; he holds US, British and Irish citizenship. He is married to Gayle Karen Young, former Chief Talent and Culture Officer of the

Wikimedia Foundation The Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (WMF) is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, and registered there as foundation (United States law), a charitable foundation. It is the host of Wikipedia, th ...

. He has a son, Brendan, from his first marriage to Autumn Preble and a daughter, Charlotte, from his second marriage to Leslie Cotter. Whyte has practised

Zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

and was a regular rock climber. He was a close friend of the Irish poet

John O'Donohue John O'Donohue (1 January 1956 – 4 January 2008) was an Irish poet, author, priest, and Hegelian philosopher. He was a native Irish speaker, and as an author is best known for popularising Celtic spirituality. Early life and education El ...

Works

Poetry collections

*''Songs for Coming Home'', Many Rivers Press, 1984 *''Where Many Rivers Meet'', Many Rivers Press, 1990 *''Fire in the Earth'', Many Rivers Press, 1992 *''The House of Belonging'', Many Rivers Press, 1996 *''Everything is Waiting for You'', Many Rivers Press, 2003 *''River Flow: New & Selected Poems'', Langley, Washington: Many Rivers Press, 2007. , *''River Flow: New & Selected Poems''. Revised Edition, Langley, Washington: Many Rivers Press, 2012. , *''Pilgrim'', Langley, WA: Many Rivers Press, 2012. , *''The Sea in You'', Langley, Washington: Many Rivers Press, 2016. , * ''The Bell and the Blackbird'', Langley, Washington : Many Rivers Press, 2018. , * ''David Whyte : Essentials'', Langley, Washington: Many Rivers Press, 2018. , * ''David Whyte: Still Possible'', Langley, Washington: Many Rivers Press, 2022,

Prose

*''The Heart Aroused: Poetry & the Preservation of the Soul in Corporate America'', London: Industrial Society, 1997. , *''Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as A Pilgrimage of Identity'', London: Penguin, 2002. , *''The Three Marriages: Reimagining Work, Self & Relationship'', New York: Riverhead Books, 2010. , *''Consolations: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words'', Langley, Washington: Many Rivers Press, 2014. ,

Audiobooks

*''Pilgrim'' *''Sometimes'' *''Return'' *''What to remember when waking'' *''Echoes in the well'' *''Sweet darkness'' *''Clear mind wild heart'' *''Midlife and the great unknown'' *''Thresholds'' *''The poetry of self compassion'' *''Life at the frontier'' *''A change for the better'' *''The teacher's vocation'' *''Make a friend of the unknown'' *''The opening of eyes'' *''Faithful to all things'' *''The power and place of poetry'' *''Footsteps: A writing life'' *''Solace: The Art of Asking the Beautiful Question''

As editor

* ''See All This Art Magazine'' #36 "To be a Pilgrim" (2024)"To be a Pilgrim" (2024)
/ref>

Life and work

Works

Poetry collections

Prose

Audiobooks

As editor

References

Further reading

External links