Peter Levitt
Peter Levitt was born in New York City on September 2, 1946. Mostly known as a poet, Peter has also published journalism, essays, fiction and translations from Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. The poet Robert Creeley has written that Peter Levitt’s writing “sounds the honour of our common dance.”
In 1989 Peter Levitt received the Lannan Foundation Literary Award in Poetry for works that “represent exceptional literary achievement, foster imaginative critical thinking, and call attention to essential humanistic values in creative, skilful and provocative ways.” He is also a recipient of a Canada Council for the Arts Grant in Poetry for Established Writers.
In addition to his nine books of poetry, he has published the non-fiction books, Fingerpainting on the Moon: Writing and Creativity as a Path to Freedom, and A Flock of Fools: Ancient Buddhist Tales of Wisdom and Laughter, translated and retold with Kazuaki Tanahashi. A long-time practitioner of Zen, he edited The Heart of Understanding by Thich Nhat Hanh, and Jakusho Kwong’s No Beginning, No End: The Intimate Heart of Zen.
In the autumn of 2008, Black Moss Press published Peter’s new collection of poetry, Within Within, about which Governor General Award recipient, Robert Hilles, wrote, “These are complex, master works that know the world better than most. They reveal the interconnected fabric of it all in ways that will leave you stunned.” Recently, Peter and Kazuaki Tanahashi completed the editing of a new translation of Dogen’s Shobogenzo, the Treasury of the True Dharma Eye, which will be published by Shambhala Publications.
Peter has read from his work and led workshops in writing, creativity and spirituality at diverse venues for more than thirty years. Formerly an MFA faculty member in poetry for Antioch University, Peter Levitt currently teaches in the UBC Creative Writing Optional Residency MFA Program and leads private online writing workshops of his own.
Peter and his family moved to Salt Spring Island, BC in 2000, where he leads the Salt Spring Zen Circle.