Roger Nash BA, MA, PhD (Exon) is a Canadian philosopher and poet. He was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England on 3 November 1942. He grew up in England, Egypt, Cyprus, Singapore and Hong Kong. He has a B.A. from the University of Wales (1965), an M.A. from McMaster University (1966) and a Ph.D. from the University of Exeter (1974).
Roger Nash is a professor Emeritus in the Department of Philosophy at Laurentian University in Sudbury, Ontario. He has served as Chair of the Department of Philosophy, and Director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities M.A. programme in "Interpretation and Value" at Laurentian University, and was a founding member of the Graduate Diploma in Science Communication offered by Laurentian University and Science North. His main philosophical interests are: Ancient Greek Philosophy, Asian Philosophy, Wittgenstein, and Environmental Ethics.
He is currently Poet Laureate of the City of Greater Sudbury (population 160,000), appointed by the Mayor and Council . He was president of the League of Canadian Poets from 1998 to 2000. During his tenure as president, he worked with Senator Jerry Grafstein to help create the position of Canadian Poet Laureate.
He is a cantor at the Shaar Hashomayim Synagogue, and is active in community fund-raising. He is married to Bronwen Christine and has two children, Piers Nash (born 1969) and Caedmon Nash (born 1970).
Awards
Prism International Poetry Contest, first prize, 1985/86. The Fiddlehead Writing Contest, first prize, poetry, 1993–94. Canadian Jewish Book Award, Poetry, 1997. Confederation Poets Award, Arc Magazine, 1997 for Circumstantial Evidence of the Visitation of Angels. PEN/O.Henry Short Story Prize finalist for "The Camera and the Cobra," anthologized in the PEN/O.Henry Prize Stories 2009 (Anchor Books, New York, 2009). Professor Emeritus, Laurentian University, 2009. First Poet Laureate of the City of Greater Sudbury, appointed by Mayor and Council, 2010.
Bibliography
Books
Upsidoon, Your Schrivner Press (2014) The Camera and the Cobra, Your Schrivner Press (2012) Sound of Sunlight, Buschekbooks, (2012) Something Blue and Flying Upward: New and Selected Poems Your Scrivener Press (2006) The Poetry of Prayer, 2nd, expanded edition, Harleston, UK: Edgeways Books, 2004 Once I was a Wheelbarrow, Calgary, AB: Bayeux Arts, 2000, 86p. Licking Honey Off A Thorn. North Bay: League of Canadian Poets and Catchfire Press, 48p. 1998 Northern Prospects: An Anthology of Northeastern Ontario Poetry. Sudbury: Your Scrivener Press, 1998, 120 pp. Spring-Fever. Sudbury/Toronto: Your Scrivener Press/ League of Canadian Poets, 42p. 1997 Uncivilizing. Toronto: Insomniac Press, 1997, 125p. Nash, R., Davidson, C. Dunn, S,. Lever, B. Reaney, J. and Sward, R. In the Kosher Chow Mein Restaurant. Sudbury, ON: Your Scrivener Press, 1996. The Poetry of Prayer. Norfolk, EN: Brynmill Press. 60p., 1994. Ethics, Science, Technology and the Environment: A Reader. Athabasca University Press, 1993. Ethics, Science, Technology and the Environment: A Study Guide. Athabasca University Press, 1993. Night Flying. Fredericton: Fiddlehead Poetry Books—Goose Lane Editions, 83p., 1990 Psalms From The Suburbs. Kingston: Quarry Press, 73p., 1986 Settlement In A School of Whales. Fredericton: Fiddlehead Poetry Books, 55p., 1983
Chapters
"Strategies: how to get written by a poem." In Poets in the classroom. Ed. by Betsy Struthers and Sarah Klassen. Markham, ON: Pembroke Publishers Limited, 81–87. 1995.