George Swede was a member of the Department of Psychology at Ryerson from 1968 to 2006 (and Chair from 1998 to 2003). He is now Professor Emeritus. During his career at Ryerson, as well as after, he pursued his interests as a creative writer, editor and arts administrator. Some highlights include :

• Co-founder, Haiku Canada in 1977 ;
• Editor, the Canadian Haiku Anthology (Three Trees Press, 1979) ;
• Co-editor, Global Haiku (Brooks Books, 2000) and Erotic Haiku (Black Moss Press, 2017) ;
• Honorary Curator of the American Haiku Archives for 2008-2009 ;
• Elected editor of Frogpond : Journal of the Haiku Society of America, for issues between 2008 and 2012. He and Anita Krumins, a retired Ryerson Communications Professor).were the first Canadian Editors.

George Swede has also published more than 40 collections of poetry, one, Helices (Red Moon Press, 2016), won the 2017 Leroy & Mildred Kanterman Memorial Book Award, First Place for the best collection of haiku ; and a Portuguese/English chapbook, "um mosquito no meu braço" (Francisco Carvalho, translator for Eufeme, 2017).

For more information about George's life, awards, publications and positions go to Wikipedia or to his website at georgeswede.com.

Leonard Gasparini was born in Windsor, Ontario. He has lived and worked in Toronto, Vancouver, and New Orleans. His books of poetry include One Bullet Left, Moon Without Light, Breaking and Entering, and Ink From an Octopus. In 1990, he won the F.G. Bressani Literary Prize for poetry.