Todd Swift was born in Montreal, Good Friday, 1966 and grew up in St-Lambert, Quebec. In 1990 he joined The League of Canadian Poets, and was twice elected Quebec representative. His poetry series Vox Hunt ran from 1995-1997, called "virtually unique in North America" by The Globe & Mail. As a screenwriter (WGC member) he’s written over one hundred hours of TV for HBO, CBC and Paramount. He received a Young Quebecer of the Year award in 1997. He was Visiting Lecturer at Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest), 1998-2001. In 2001 he moved to Paris, then in 2003 London, England. Swift’s poetry has been collected in three full collections, Budavox (1999), Café Alibi (2002) and Rue du Regard (2004). His poems have appeared in journals such as Poetry Review, The Guardian, and New American Writing. He has written reviews for The Globe & Mail, Books in Canada, and Poetry London. His poetry has appeared on ABC, BBC, CBC, and RTE radio. He’s poetry editor of Nthposition; in 2003 he edited the e-books 100 Poets against the War. As an anthologist, he has created 9 international anthologies, including Poetry Nation and Short Fuse. His poetry’s appeared in many anthologies, including Open Field: 30 Contemporary Canadian Poets and The New Canon: an Anthology of Canadian Poetry. He’s been Oxfam GB Poet-in-residence since 2004. He is a Tutor with the Poetry School. He has an MA (distinction) in Creative Writing from the University of East Anglia. He currently lectures at several universities in London.
Awards
McGill University International Debating Tournament - 1st Place speaker - 1987.
Alliance Quebec's Young Quebec Anglophone of the Year Award - Arts & Education category - 1997.
Selected Publications
Budavox: poems 1990-1999 (DC Books, 1999)
ISBN: 0-919688-46-2
Cafe Alibi (DC Books, 2002)
ISBN: 0-919688-53-5
Swifty Lazarus: The Envelope, Please (Wired On Words (with Tom Walsh), 2002) Recording
Rue Du Regard (DC Books,
2004)
ISBN: 0-919688-11-X
Anthologies
Map-Maker's Colours: New Poets of Northern Ireland. (Editor, with Martin
Mooney) (Nu-Age Editions)
Poetry Nation: The North American Anthology of Fusion Poets
(edited with Regie Cabico) (Vehicule Press, 1998) ISBN: 1-55065-112-9
100 Poets Against The War (as editor) (Salt (Cambridge), 2003) ISBN: 1-876857-98-6
Future Welcome (as editor) (DC Books, 2005) ISBN: 1-897190-06-9
Books in Print
Swift, Todd
Budavox: poems 1990-1999 (DC Books, 1999)
ISBN: 0-919688-46-2
Cafe Alibi (DC Books, 2002)
ISBN: 0-919688-53-5
Rue Du Regard (DC Books,
2004)
ISBN: 0-919688-11-X
Todd Swift Maida Vale, London, England
www.toddswift.com
www.nthposition.com