David Solway

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David Solway (born 1941) is a Canadian poet, educational theorist, travel writer and literary critic of Jewish descent. He is a member of the Jubilate Circle and formerly professor of English Literature at John Abbott College. He lives in Hudson, Quebec.

David Solway is renowned for his metier both as a poet and as a teacher, for his common sense, skepticism, flamboyancy and polemical outspokenness. For inspiration, he invented a Greek poet named Andreas Karavis, whose work he published in translation. He has inspired other Canadian artists to rebel against the parochial.

Recently, David Solway attended Irving Layton's funeral, where Solway, along with fellow poet, Leonard Cohen, emotionally, but intelligently spoke about Layton's importance as a poet and revolutionary. Both men view Layton as a radical but realistic thinker and guru.

Poetry:

• Modern Marriage 1987
• Bedrock 1993
• Chess Pieces 1999
• The Lover's progress, Poems after William Hogarth, 2001
• Franklin's Passage 2003

Poetry Translation:

• Andreas Karavis: Saracen Island, The Poetry of Andreas Karavis, 2000
• Nesmine Rifat: Pallikari

Essays and Criticism:

• Education Lost 1989
• Random Walks
• Lying about the Wolf, Essays in Culture & Education, 1997
• The Turtle Hypodermic of Sickenpods, Liberal Studies in the Corporate Age, 2000
• An Andreas Karavis Companion, 2000
• Director's Cut, 2003

About David Solway:

• Carmine Starnino, ed.: David Solway, Essays on His Works, 2001

See also: List of Canadian poets