DAY, Brian

PERSONAL: Male. Education: Attended Trent University and University of Toronto.

ADDRESSES: Home—Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Guernica Editions, P.O. Box 117, Station P., Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2S6.

CAREER: Educator, author, and poet. Teacher in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

AWARDS, HONORS: E. J. Pratt Medal for Poetry, 1986.

WRITINGS:

Chronicle of Celtic Folk Customs: A Day-to-Day Guide to Folk Traditions, Hamlyn (London, England), 2000.

Love Is Not Native to My Blood (poems), Guernica Editions (Buffalo, NY), 2000.

Azure (poems), Guernica Editions (Tonawanda, NY), 2004.

Also contributor to anthology ReCreations: Religion and Spirituality in the Lives of Queer People, Queer Press, 1999. Contributor to periodicals, including Hart House Review, New Quarterly, and Arc.

SIDELIGHTS: Brian Day is a Canadian poet and teacher whose first collection of poetry, Love Is Not Native to My Blood, is an ode to his own homosexuality. Using primarily tradition meters, he explores the sexuality and mythos of homosexuality in verses that are often either directly or metaphorically erotic. Calling the debut "an extraordinarily accomplished first volume," J. Reibetanz went on to note in a University of Toronto Quarterly review that the collection demonstrates "cultural breadth and … verbal richness." Observing that Day uses "both traditional rhymed stanzas and freer forms," the critic also appreciated the poet's "considerable wit."

Day is also the author of Chronicle of Celtic Folk Customs: A Day-to-Day Guide to Folk Traditions, which provides information about Celtic festivals and facts about traditions of the Welsh, Irish, Scottish, Manx, Breton, and Cornish Celtic cultures. The book also includes traditional recipes.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, November 1, 2000, Mary Ellen Quinn, review of Chronicle of Celtic Folk Customs: A Day-to-Day Guide to Folk Traditions, p. 578.

Books in Canada, January-March 2002, Geoffrey Cook, review of Love Is Not Native to My Blood, p. 28.

Canadian Book Review Annual, 2001, review of Love Is Not Native to My Blood, p. 206.

University of Toronto Quarterly, winter, 2001, J. Reibetanz, review of Love Is Not Native to My Blood, pp. 75-76.