Richard Sanger Feature

• Interview with Richard Sanger

• Four new poems by Richard Sanger

• Sanger: How I Wrote "Wish"

Richard Sanger is a poet and playwright who lives in Toronto with his wife, Deborah Lambie, an actor, and their children, Malcolm and Louis. Richard is the author of Shadow Cabinet, a book of poems published by Vehicule Press in 1996, and several plays, including the Governor General Award nominated, Not Spain. 

His plays continue to be performed and his poetry has appeared widely, not only in Canada, but in the United States and Great Britain in such journals as the London Review of Books, the Times Literary Supplement and Poetry Review. Richard has taught at the University of Toronto, and held positions as Writer in Residence with the University of New Brunswick and the University of Calgary.

Richard Sanger grew up in Ottawa, but before he graduated from high school, his family moved to London, England. He studied and worked in France, traveled in Spain, then did an undergraduate degree in Spanish and Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, where he met his wife. Upon completion of the degree, Richard and Deborah returned to Spain, where they worked teaching English as a second language . 

After two years in Seville, Richard and Debbie moved to Berlin, where they continued to support themselves by teaching English. Debbie acted, Richard learned German, and the clouds of Chernobyl passed over them. In 1987, Richard returned to Canada to do a doctorate at the University of Toronto (which he completed in 1993); he has been based in Toronto ever since.

Photo credit: Roberto Ariganello