Jay Ruzesky was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1965 and he was raised in Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Calgary, and Kelowna. He studied at Okanagan College with John Lent; the University of Victoria with the late, Constance Rooke; the University of Windsor with Alistair MacLeod ; and at the Banff Centre for the Arts with Don Coles and Don McKay. His poems and stories have appeared in Canadian and American journals such as Caliban, Prism international, Canadian Literature, Event, Saturday Night, Descant, Border Crossings, and Poetry Northwest. His books include Blue Himalayan Poppies (Nightwood, 2001), Writing on the Wall (Outlaw Editions, 1996), Painting The Yellow House Blue (House of Anansi, 1994), and Am I Glad To See You (Thistledown, 1992). He has been on the editorial board of The Malahat Review for 20 years, and he teaches English, Creative Writing and Film Studies at Vancouver Island University. Essays, interviews and art criticism have appeared in Brick, Poetry Canada Review, and selected gallery publications. He lives on Vancouver Island.

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In Antarctica may not be a book of poetry, but the respect and command of language that makes Ruzesky such a wonderful poet is on display throughout the book...He vividly brings to life the beauty of Antarctica, a place that to the unfamiliar may seem like just a white barren wasteland...Ruzesky is such a fine writer - fact or fiction - that he is worth following to the end of the Earth.
--Colin Holt, Victoria Times-Colonist

In Antarctica is a fascinating and eminently readable memoir...In addition to a lifetime of anticipation, Ruzesky brings along his poet's palette as he discovers what it's really like to set foot on the last truly wild place on Earth. In Antarctica is a finely crafted piece of creative non-fiction, well suited for either the veteran or armchair traveler. Since few of us will ever reach Antarctica ourselves, it's a treat to have an author as accomplished as Ruzesky capture the experience for us.
--John Threlfall, CVV Magazine