George Jonas, CM, Canadian journalist, novelist, playwrite, and poet.

Critics have called him "...one of the very best writers of English in the country" (I. M. Owen in Books in Canada); "...a master of subtle provocation and reasoned defence" (Michael Coren in Law Times); "...one of this country's best essayists" (Chris Nelson in The Calgary Sun); "...invariably thought-provoking" (Jim Robb in The Ottawa Citizen); "...a clever and witty European whose mastery of English is not only flawless but elegant and daring" (Bronwyn Drainie in The Globe & Mail).

Reviewers have compared Jonas to Pope, Diderot, and Voltaire -- "...the closest thing to Alexander Pope we have..." (John Moore in the Vancouver Sun - Saturday Books), "...a 20th century Diderot..." (Ralph Sarkonak in Canadian Literature), "...the rapier thrusts of his prose are Voltairean" (Arnold Ages in Jewish Tribune) -- and have also described him as "...a cultural historian of credential..." (David Solway in Books in Canada) and "...Canada's leading public intellectual." (Mark Steyn in the National Review Online.)

Jonas frequently wrote about topics related to the Middle East, counter-terrorism, law, and aviation safety. His books of selected journalism are Crocodiles in the Bathtub (Collins, 1987), and Politically Incorrect (Lester Publishing, 1991). Key Porter Books released his memoir Beethoven's Mask: Notes On My Life and Times in 2005, and also published his latest collection of essays, Reflections on Islam, in 2007. The Jonas Variations, released by Cormorant Books in the fall of 2011, is a literary séance in which Jonas conjures up 50 poets who wrote in languages other than English and puts English words in their mouths. It is a cavalcade of poetry, biography, autobiography and irreverent literary history. David Warren has described the book in the Ottawa Citizen as "autobiography on the highest level."

A new poetry collection, Selected Poems: 1967-2011, will be available in February 2016.

Representation:

Literary agent: Linda McKnight, Westwood Creative Artists, Ltd.,
94 Harbord Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1G6.