EARLE BIRNEY was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1904. He took his B.A. (1926) in English literature from the University of British Columbia and his M.A. (1927) and Ph.D. (1936) from the University of Toronto. He complemented his distinguished teaching career with his poetry, fiction, criticism, and editorial work.
During the Second World War, Birney served in the Canadian army as a personnel selection officer in Britain and in Holland, and his wartime experiences furnished him with material for his first novel, Turvey, which won him the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. Birney's reputation as a poet was established with his first two volumes, David and Other Poems and Now is Time, both of them winning Governor General's Awards. As a chronicler and interpreter of Canadian life, Birney responded openly and carefully to the many developments in poetry during his life.
From 1946 until 1965, Birney was Professor of English at the University of British Columbia, where he founded Canada's first department of creative writing.
Earle Birney died in Toronto, Ontario, in 1995.

Earle Birney's first collection of new poems in five years - a varied assembly of visual and verbal magic from the creator of such beloved classics as "David," "Bear on the Delhi Road," "Billboards Build Freedom of Choice" and others.
A man whose name is synonymous with poetry, a writer whose popularity cuts across generations and geographical boundaries, Earle Birney maintains a spirit of perpetual youth in his verse, whether making a poem about being old or being in love, about grief or joy, about the past, the present or the future.
In Fall by Fury, he deals with all these themes, employing a broad array of forms, including drawn poems, and achieving moods of serenity, humour, irony, tenderness and hope.
Here, from one of our most esteemed poets, is a significant new volume, full of the timeless artistry that has earned him two Governor General's Awards, a Canada Council Medal and the Lorne Pierce Medal of the Royal Society of Canada.