Born and raised in San Francisco, Stanley was part of the San Francisco Renaissance, which included poets such as Jack Spicer, Robert Duncan and Robin Blaser.
Stanley grew up in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, attending St. Ignatius College Preparatory high school. His family was middle-class, Irish, and Catholic. In 1951, he attended the University of San Francisco, but left it to enroll at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City a year later. In 1953, Stanley enlisted in the US Army, where he served until 1956. He then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley and remained there until 1957. It is then that he met Jack Spicer, who asked Stanley to join his Poetry as Magic workshop, which Spicer taught at San Francisco State College, and which included Robert Duncan, Helen Adam, James Broughton, Joe Dunn, and Jack Gilbert. Stanley’s poems started appearing in publications such as J (San Francisco, 1958-1959), Floating Bear (New York, 1960), and Open Space (San Francisco, 1964). His two chapbooks, Tête Rouge/Pony Express Riders and Flowers, were published in 1963 and 1965 respectively. Stanley returned to formal education and received his bachelor’s degree in 1969 and his master’s degree in 1971, both from San Francisco State University.
In 1971, Stanley moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he lived for five years, working on the underground newspaper The Grape. New Star Books published his first full-length collection, You, in 1974. In 1976 he moved to Terrace in northern B.C., where he worked as an instructor in the English department at Northwest Community College. In 1992 he moved back to Vancouver to teach at Capilano College. During this period, Stanley published books and was active in Canadian politics, unions, and the alternative media, and served as a board member of the Capilano Press Society, publisher of The Capilano Review. He also edited and contributed to the intergenerational Vancouver literary journal Tads (1996-2001), through which Stanley, George Bowering, Jamie Reid, and Renee Rodin mentored younger writers such as Thea Bowering, Wayde Compton, Reg Johanson, Ryan Knighton, Jason Le Heup, Chris Turnbull, and Karina Vernon.
Stanley retired from Capilano College in 2003. He currently lives in Vancouver, where he continues to write poetry.
Section A:
Books
A1. THE LOVE ROOT
First edition:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, Jan. 1958
Hand-sewn illustrated wrappers, 6.5? x 8.5?, 12 pages, 200 copies. George Stanley’s first book. Cover illustration by Robert Duncan. (Johnston A5)
A2. TÊTE ROUGE / PONY EXPRESS RIDERS
First edition:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1963
Printed sheets laid unbound into illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 8.25″, 54 pages. Illustrated by Paul Alexander.
(Johnston A15)
A3. FLOWERS
a. First edition, regular copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1965
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.75″ x 8.75″, 32 pages, 500 copies (26 lettered and signed in boards), letterpress printed.
(Johnston A28)
b. First edition, hardcover, numbered and signed copies:
San Francisco: White Rabbit Press, 1965
Hardcover, 5.75″ x 8.75″, 32 pages, 26 lettered and signed copies, letterpress printed.
(Johnston A28)
A4. BEYOND LOVE
First edition:
San Francisco: Open Space :: Dariel Press, 1968
Saddle-stapled printed wrappers, 5.75″ x 8.5″, 36 pages, no colophon. Dedication: “for Harold Dull”.
(Johnston A42)
A5. YOU: POEMS 1957-67
Vancouver: New Star Press, 1974
A6. THE STICK: POEMS, 1969-73
Vancouver: New Star Press, 1974
A7. OPENING DAY: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS
Lantzville: Oolichan Books, 1983
A8. GENTLE NORTHERN SUMMER
Vancouver: New Star, 1995
A9. AT ANDY’S
Vancouver: New Star, 2000
A10. A TALL, SERIOUS GIRL: SELECTED POEMS 1957-2000
Jamestown: Qua Books, 2003
A11. VANCOUVER: A POEM
Vancouver: New Star, 2008
A12. AFTER DESIRE
Vancouver: New Star, 2013
A13. NORTH OF CALIFORNIA ST.: SELECTED POEMS
Vancouver: New Star, 2014
References consulted:
Alastair Johnston. A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE WHITE RABBIT PRESS
Berkeley: Poltroon Press in association with Anacapa Books, 1985
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