Steve McCaffery Biography

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Claim to Fame: Canadian author, poet.
DOB: January 24, 1947
Diabetes Type: 1

A pioneer of postmodern Canadian literature and a crucial figure in the Canadian avant garde movement of the1970’s, Steve McCaffery has become a prominent figure in modern poetry, challenging conventionality and classicism by deconstructing language to free emotion. Along with fellow poet bpNichol, McCaffery revolutionized modern understandings of poetry and literature and forced poets to re-examine their work and the larger concept of poetry as a whole.

Born in 1947 in Sheffield, England, McCaffery spent most of his youth in the United Kingdom before traveling to Toronto in 1968. His early education at the University of Hull provided McCaffey with the traditional education and exposure to the canonical poets that would later allow for his poetic rebellion and re-invention.

Arriving in Canada at the age of twenty-one, McCaffery quickly became aware of the repressive and backward nature of Toronto.  In 1969, McCaffery met Nichol and the two began to work on poetry that was new and unique to their age. In 1970, Nichol and McCaffery, along with two other Toronto based poets, began the sound-poetry group The Four Horsemen. As a member of The Four Horsemen, McCaffery has published more than 23 books. McCaffery also holds a professorship at SUNY Buffalo (Amherst) and has been nominated twice for Canada’s Governor General’s Award. 

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