Christopher Dewdney is a Canadian writer and poet.

He was born in London

London, Ontario

London is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, situated along the Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. The city has a population of 352,395, and the metropolitan area has a population of 457,720, according to the 2006 Canadian census; the metro population in 2009 was estimated at 489,274. The city...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, and presently lives in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, where he is a professor at York University

York University

York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....

. He is the long-time partner of writer Barbara Gowdy. Winner of the 2007 Harbourfront Festival Prize, he is the author of four books of non-fiction as well as eleven books of poetry. A four-time nominee for the Governor General's Award, Dewdney won first-prize in the CBC Literary Competition for poetry. In 2005 his book, Acquainted With The Night: Excursions into the World After Dark was nominated for both a Governor General's Award and The Charles Taylor Prize for literary non-fiction, and was published in seven countries. In 2008, HarperCollins

HarperCollins

HarperCollins is a publishing company owned by News Corporation. It is the combination of the publishers William Collins, Sons and Co Ltd, a British company, and Harper & Row, an American company, itself the result of an earlier merger of Harper & Brothers and Row, Peterson & Company. The worldwide...

 published his most recent non-fiction title, Soul of The World: Unlocking the Secrets of Time.

Dewdney is the son of Canadian artist and author Selwyn Dewdney

Selwyn Dewdney

Selwyn Hanington Dewdney was an author, illustrator, artist, activist and pioneer in both art therapy and pictography.- Early life :...

, brother of Alexander Keewatin Dewdney

Alexander Dewdney

Alexander Keewatin Dewdney is a Canadian mathematician, computer scientist and philosopher who has written a number of books on the future and implications of modern computing. He has also written one work of fiction, The Planiverse...

, and the great-grand-nephew of Edgar Dewdney

Edgar Dewdney

Edgar Dewdney, PC was a Canadian politician born in Devonshire, England. He served as Lieutenant Governor of the North-West Territories and the fifth Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia.-Early life and career:...

 (Lieutenant-governor: British Columbia 1892—1897, Northwest Territories, 1881—1888).

Christopher Dewdney was also featured in the film Poetry in Motion

Poetry in Motion (film)

Poetry in Motion is a 1982 documentary directed by Ron Mann featuring contemporary North American poetry and music. Featured are some of the Black Mountain poets, Beats, minimalist poets, and avante-garde poets.-Featured artists:*Helen Adam...

.

Awards and honours

• 1983 Finalist, Governor General's Award for Poetry (for Predators of the Adoration)
• 1986 Winner, CBC Literary Competition for Poetry (for A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario)
• 1986 Finalist, Governor General's Award for Poetry (for The Immaculate Perception)
• 1988 Finalist, Governor General's Award for Poetry (for The Radiant Inventory)
• 2004 Finalist, Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction (for Acquainted with the Night)
• 2005 Finalist, Charles Taylor Prize (for Acquainted with the Night)
• 2007 Harbourfront Festival Prize

Poetry

• A Palaeozoic Geology of London, Ontario (1974) Coach House Press
• Fovea Centralis (1975) Coach House Press
• Alter Sublime (19800 Coach House Press
• Predators of the Adoration (1983) McClelland and Stewart
• The Immaculate Perception (1985) House of Anansi Press
• Permugenisis )1987) Nightwood Editions
• The Radiant Inventory (1988) McClelland and Stewart
• Concordat Proviso Ascendant (A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario, book 3) (1991) The Figures, Mass
• Demon Pond (1994) McClelland and Stewart
• Signal Fires (including A Natural History of Southwestern Ontario, books 3 and 4) - McClelland and Stewart, 2000
• The Natural History (2002) ECW
• Children of the outer dark : the poetry of Christopher Dewdney (2007) Wilfrid Laurier Press

Non-fiction

• The Secular Grail (1993) Somerville House
• Last Flesh: Life in the Transhuman Era (1998) HarperCollins Canada ISBN 0-00-638472-2
• Acquainted With the Night
  Acquainted With the Night
  Acquainted with the Night: Excursions through the World After Dark is a non-fiction book by Christopher Dewdney about various aspects of night. It was first published in 2004 by HarperCollins. It uses the same title as the Robert Frost poem "Acquainted with the Night"...
  
  (2004) HarperCollins Canada, Bloomsbury New York, Bloomsbury London, ISBN 1-58234-396-9 (hardcover) ISBN 0-00-639164-8 (paperback)
• Soul of The World: Unlocking the Secrets of Time (2008) HarperCollins ISBN 978-1-55468-002-3

Essays

• "Parasite Maintenance", Open Letter series 4, no. 6-7 (Winter 1980-81)
• "bpNichol, 1944-1988", Brick: A Journal of Reviews, Vol 34 (Fall 1988)
• "Enigmatic Emblematic: The Internal Logic of Judith Schwarz's Sculpture", Canadian Art, Vol 6, 4 (Winter 1989)
• "Life at the Centre", Canadian Telecom (November 1989)
• "Power Dreams", Descant, Vol. 23, 1-2, (Spring/Summer 1992)
• "Consciousness Projected", Descant, Vol 27, 1-2, (Spring/Summer 1996)
• "After Deep Blue", Saturday Night, Vol 113, 3 (April 1998)

External links

• Christopher Dewdney's entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia