Career
He has written ten books of poetry, two children"s novels, three children"s albums, and four CDs of songs and poems. Under the alias of "Doctor Poetry", Priest has also performed on Canadian Broadcasting Company Radio"s spoken-word show "Wordbeat" and is well known for his aphorisms and his hit "Song Instead of a Kiss". Canadian novelist and short story writer Barbara Gowdy has described him as "the voice of the people and the angels, entwined" and the Toronto Star has called him "passionate, cocky, alternately adoring and insulting." Priest"s plays, novels and songs have earned him awards and recognition in Canadian literary circles and a growing worldwide readership.
His fourth Civil Defense of songs was called Feeling the Pinch.
Born in 1951, his family emigrated to Toronto, Canada, at the age of four. Growing up in Scarborough, Priest developed a love of literature from the fanciful stories his mother often told before bedtime.
By the age of eight, Priest says, he had already begun to dream of becoming a writer In 1970 he entered the University of Waterloo to study mathematics, but soon dropped out and decided to write poetry instead.
Since his first book of poetry (The Visible Manitoba, 1979), he has published nine more books of poetry, four plays, a children"s novel and a hit song.
He lives in Toronto with Marsha Kirzner and is a regular contributor to Toronto"s weekly magazine Now.
