George Thwaites
Poet and Author
George Thwaites (that’s me) was raised in Whitby, Ontario after being born in 1955. I moved to Ottawa after university graduation where I have since lived. I am married and we have two grown children. Our ‘child’ that remains at home is our dog, a dark golden retriever. During my career, I worked for the most part in the federal public service prior to retiring in 2014.
I have actively volunteered in the community since being a teenager. Organizations have included a number of youth recreational organizations, school parent councils, Ronald McDonald House Ottawa, the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario, Queen’s University Council, the Ottawa Network for Education, Race Ottawa, the Navan Curling Club, Orleans United Church, the Eastern Ottawa Resource Centre, and Shelter Movers Ottawa. In 2024, I was a Finalist for Volunteer Ottawa’s Outstanding Older Volunteer Award.
Other interests include curling, travel, gardening, politics and sports.
I began to write poetry and short stories in 2016. Since then, I have written in excess of eighty poems and short stories, been published in national anthologies, collaborated with others to write hymns, and read my poetry in public. The book, 48 Hours – A Story of Choices was my first ‘long short story’ or ‘novelette’ and self-published in September 2024. Stories from the Bench was written in the autumn of 2024 as if on inspirational steroids, taking but a month from idea to ‘complete for editing’. Self-published in December 2024, this book has helped me to learn a lot more about writing and publishing.