Stan Persky
Former location, Buddy’s Bar, 1018 Burnaby St.
"How often cities and other locales – gym, barracks, a room – appear inseparable from the beloved. How romantic the range of cities as I press them to my lips"
From Buddy’s: Meditations on Desire
Born in Chicago in 1941, Stan Persky was easily one of the most significant figures in the rise of British Columbian writing and publishing during the 1970s and 1980s. He was inspired to pursue a literary career as a 16-year-old in 1957 when he sent his writing to Jack Kerouac, and soon received replies from Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti and other writers of the “Beat Generation.” In the late 1960s, Persky co-founded the Georgia Straight Writing Supplement in Vancouver which led to the formation of New Star Books, a leftist imprint managed by Lanny Beckman. For many years Persky, as an author and political activist, was closely associated with New Star Books and wrote a series of books about B.C. and international politics for the press. He lived in the houses in which the press operated for many years, first at 2249, and then at 2504 York Avenue. (In 1990, Rolf Maurer took over as New Star publisher and its majority owner, moving the company to East Vancouver.) Persky, who taught philosophy at Capilano College, was also a leading light in a Philosopher Cafe initiative to stimulate philosophical and literary discussions around Vancouver, a program founded by Yosef Wosk of Simon Fraser University. As well, Persky was an early activist in the Vancouver gay movement, and wrote about gay life in his book Buddy’s: Meditations on Desire (1991)
