Doug Beardsley (born April 27, 1941) is a
Canadian
Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...
poet and educator. He has collaborated with numerous other writers including
Al Purdy
Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four b ...
,
Theresa Kishkan and
Charles Lillard
Charles "Red" Lillard (February 26, 1944 – March 27, 1997) was an American-born poet and historian who spent much of his adult life in British Columbia and became a Canadian citizen in 1967. He wrote extensively about the history and culture o ...
.
He was born in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
,
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is ...
and studied at
Sir George Williams University
Sir George Williams University was a university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It merged with Loyola College to create Concordia University on August 24, 1974.
History
In 1851, the first YMCA in North America was established on Sainte-Hélène ...
. There, Beardsley came under the poetic tutelage of
Irving Layton
Irving Peter Layton, OC (March 12, 1912 – January 4, 2006) was a Romanian-born Canadian poet. He was known for his "tell it like it is" style which won him a wide following, but also made him enemies. As T. Jacobs notes in his biography (2001) ...
, with whom he corresponded until Layton's death in 2006. Beardsley has lived in
Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
,
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...
since 1974.
Beardsley earned a
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...
in Creative Writing from the
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...
and an
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...
in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
from
York University
York University (french: Université York), also known as YorkU or simply YU, is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's fourth-largest university, and it has approximately 55,700 students, 7,000 faculty and staf ...
. He has lectured and taught at the
University of Burgundy
The University of Burgundy (french: Université de Bourgogne, uB; formerly known as ''Université de Dijon'') is a public university located in Dijon, France.
The University of Burgundy is situated on a large campus (more than 150 ha) in the east ...
in
Dijon
Dijon (, , ) (dated)
* it, Digione
* la, Diviō or
* lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920.
The earl ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...
; the
University of Bordeaux
The University of Bordeaux (French: ''Université de Bordeaux'') is a public university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France.
It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, an ...
; the Victoria Indian Cultural Centre, and the
University of Victoria
The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary insti ...
(where he taught from 1981 until retirement in 2006). He is the author of eleven volumes of poetry which been widely anthologized. In 1989, he was shortlisted for the
Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize The Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, established in 1986, is awarded annually to the best collection of poetry by a resident of British Columbia, Canada.
One of the BC and Yukon Book Prizes, the award was originally known as the B.C. Prize for Poetry ...
, and trees were planted in
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
in 1996 in recognition of his services to
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; ...
remembrance and education.
In 2005, Beardsley caught the media's attention when he began offering a second-year
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national id ...
course on "Hockey Literature and the Canadian Psyche," examining the place of
hockey
Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...
in the
literature
Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to inclu ...
and
culture of Canada
The culture of Canada embodies the artistic, culinary, literary, humour, musical, political and social elements that are representative of Canadians. Throughout Canada's history, its culture has been influenced by European culture and tradi ...
.
University of Victoria – Communications – Media Tip
/ref>
Bibliography
Non-fiction
*''Country On Ice'' (Polestar Books, 1987)
*''No One Else Is Lawrence!'' (Harbour, 1998), with Al Purdy
Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four b ...
Anthologies edited
*'' The Rocket, The Flower, The Hammer, and Me'' (Polestar Books, 1988)
*''Our Game: An All-Star Collection of Hockey Fiction'' (Polestar Books, 1997)
*''The Man Who Outlived Himself: An Appreciation of John Donne
John Donne ( ; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cathedr ...
'' (Harbour Publishing, 2000), with Al Purdy
Alfred Wellington Purdy (December 30, 1918 – April 21, 2000) was a 20th-century Canadian free verse poet. Purdy's writing career spanned fifty-six years. His works include thirty-nine books of poetry; a novel; two volumes of memoirs and four b ...
Poetry
*''Going Down Into History'' (Oolichan Books, 1976)
*''The Only Country in the World Called Canada'' (Sesame Press, 1976)
*''Six Saanich Poems'' (Victoria Indian Cultural Education Centre, 1977)
*''Play on the Water: The Paul Klee Poems'' (Press Porcepic, 1978)
*''Premonition & Gifts'' (Privately printed, 1979), with Theresa Kishkan
*''Poems'' (Islomane Press, 1979), with Charles Lillard
Charles "Red" Lillard (February 26, 1944 – March 27, 1997) was an American-born poet and historian who spent much of his adult life in British Columbia and became a Canadian citizen in 1967. He wrote extensively about the history and culture o ...
*''Pacific Sands'' (League of Canadian Poets, 1980) - pamphlet
*''Kissing the Body of my Lord: The Marie Poems'' (Longspoon Press, 1982)
*''A Dancing Star'' (Thisteldown, 1988)
*''Free to Talk'' (Hawthorne Press, 1992)
*''Inside Passage'' (Thistledown, 1993)
*''Wrestling With Angels: New & Selected Poems, 1960-1995'' (Signal Editions, 1996)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beardsley, Doug
1941 births
Living people
20th-century Canadian poets
20th-century Canadian male writers
Anglophone Quebec people
Canadian male poets
University of Burgundy alumni
Writers from Montreal
Writers from Victoria, British Columbia