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Irving Layton Biography |
Irving Layton (born March 12, 1912) is a Canadian poet. He was born as Israel Pincu Lazarovitch in a small village in Romania to Jewish parents. His family emigrated to Montreal in 1913 and they settled in the vibrant Jewish section of that city. Layton vigorously pursued his education eventually receiving a degree in Agricultural sciences from MacDonald College in 1939. His true interest was poetry, however. Layton read Tennyson and Shelly from an early age and moved through the other great authors throuhgout his youth. He travelled throughout Canada doing odd jobs, and in 1942 joined the army and became an officer a CFB Petawawa.
Layton eventually became a teacher, first at a Montreal Jewish High School, and then as a political-science professor at Sir George Williams University. Layton had become a strong socialist while at university and became active in the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation. Because of this activity he was blacklisted and banned from entering the United States for the next two decades.
Layton's activism and poetry had made him an internationally known celebrity by the 1950s and he a fixture on early Canadian television. He travelled widely abroad and became especially popular in South Korea and Italy and in 1981 these two nations nominated him for the Nobel Prize for Literature. He did not win, but was honoured by the nomination. Layton today lives in retirement in Montreal.
Works:
Now Is The Place - 1948
The Black Huntsmen: Poems - 1951
Love the Conqueror Worm - 1953
The Long Pea-Shooter - 1954
In the Midst of My Fever - 1954
The Blue Propeller - 1955
The Cold Green Element - 1955
The Bull Calf and Other Poems - 1956
The Improved Binoculars: Selected Poems - 1956
Music on a Kaxoo - 1956
A Laughter in the Mind - 1959
A Red Carpet for the Cun - 1960
The Swinging Flesh - 1961
Balls for a One-Armed Juggler - 1963
The Laughing Rooster - 1964
Collected Poems - 1965
Periods of the Moon: Poems - 1967
The Shattered Plinths - 1968
Selected Poems - 1969
The Whole Bloody Bird - 1969
Poems to Color - 1970
Nailpolish - 1971
The Collected Poems of Irving Layton - 1971
Lovers and Lesser Men - 1972
The Pole-Vaulter - 1974
Seventy-five Greek Poems, 1951-1974 - 1974
The Darkening Fire: Selected Poems, 1945-1968 - 1975
The Unwavering Eye: Selected Poems, 1969-1975 - 1975
The Uncollected Poems of Irving Layton: 1936-59 - 1976
For my Brother Jesus - 1976
The Selected Poems of Irving Layton - 1977
The Covenant - 1977
The Tightrope Dancer - 1979
Droppings from Heaven - 1979
For My Neighbours in Hell - 1980
Europe And Other Bad News - 1981
A Wild Peculiar Joy: Selected Poems, 1945-82 - 1982
Shadows on the Ground: A Portfolio - 1982
The Gucci Bag - 1983
The Love Poems of Irving Layton: With Reverence & Delight - 1984
Fortunate Exile - 1987
Final Reckoning: Poems, 1982-1986 - 1987
Dance With Sesire: Selected Love Poems - 1992 |
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| Irving Layton Resources |
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