Dave Godfrey has been an active and influential force in Canadian writing, publishing, and cultural nationalism since 1967 when he returned to Canada from graduate study in the United States. His literary, teaching, and political activities have as their common goal creating those conditions under which the writer in Canada can best flourish.

Godfrey was born 9 August 1938 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. His father, Richmond Godfrey, was a lawyer, and his mother, Margaret, was a teacher. He married Ellen Swartz in 1963; they had three children, Jonathan Kofi, Rebecca, and Samuel. He received all his postsecondary education in the United States, earning a B.A. (1960), an M.F.A. in creative writing (1962), and a Ph.D. in English (1967) from the University of lowa and an M.A. in English (1963) from Stanford University. He has taught at Trinity College of the University of Toronto and at York University and is now chairman of...