Marius Kociejowski Explained

Marius Kociejowski (born 1949) is a Canadian-born poet, essayist and travel writer.

Kociejowski was born in 1949 in Bishop's Mills, Ontario, to a Polish father and an English mother. In 1973, he left Canada and later settled in London.^[1] His first publication, Coast, won the Cheltenham Prize for Literature in 1991.^[2] He works as an antiquarian bookseller specializing in poetry.^[3] His interest in Syria has led him to research and write two books about the country,^[4] and edit a Syrian anthology of travel writing. His book God's Zoo (2014) consists of a series of encounters with creative artists living in London who have become exiles from their cultural and geographical roots.^[5]

Works

Poetry

• Coast (Greville Press, 1990)
• Doctor Honoris Causa (Anvil Press, 1993)
• Music's Bride (Anvil Press, 1999). A Canadian edition of his poems, which collected the above
• So Dance the Lords of Language (Porcupine's Quill in 2003) - a Canadian edition containing the above collections in a single volume.
• Collected Poems (Carcanet, 2019)

Prose

• The Street Philosopher and the Holy Fool: A Syrian Journey (Sutton, 2004; new edition by Eland in 2016)
• Syria through Writers' Eyes (Eland, 2006) - an anthology edited by Kociejowski
• The Pigeon Wars of Damascus (Biblioasis, 2010) - a sequel to The Street Philosopher
• The Pebble Chance: Feuilletons and Other Prose (Biblioasis, 2014)
• God’s Zoo: Artists, Exiles, Londoners (Carcanet, 2014)
• Zoroaster's Children and Other Travels (Biblioasis, 2015)
• A Factotum in the Book Trade: A Memoir (Biblioasis, 2022)^[6]
• The Serpent Coiled in Naples (Haus, 2022)

Notes and References

1. Jones. Evan. in conversation with Marius Kociejowski. PN Review. February 2012. 38. 3. 14 September 2016.
2. Web site: Interview with Marius Kociejowski, essayist and poet. Wasafiri. 14 September 2016.
3. News: Dirda. Michael. Michael Dirda reviews 'The Pebble Chance' by Marius Kociejowski. The Washington Post. 14 September 2016.
4. Web site: Ormsby. Eric. Five Questions with Marius Kociejowski. conversationalreading.com. 14 September 2016.
5. Web site: Caddy. David. Marius Kociejowski's God's Zoo. tearsinthefence.com. 24 July 2014 . 14 September 2016.
6. News: Love the Smell of Old Books? This Bookseller Would Like You to Leave . The New York Times . 18 July 2022 . Garner . Dwight .