RICK SALUTIN. A writer, lecturer, and social activist, Rick Salutin was born at Toronto on August 30, 1942. Educated mainly in the U.S., Rick returned to Toronto in 1970 to work as a trade-union organizer and journalist.

Rick's written output has been regarded variably as both radical in content and a continuation of the Yiddish socialist tradition; it is as distinctly regional in style as it is interpretive of the nation's socio-political development. His nonfiction, including Waiting For Democracy: A Citizen's Journal (1989), is distinguished for its verbal accessibility and curt, probing technique.

Fanshen (1971) stands as a prelude to an extensive period of collaborative playwriting between Rick and Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille. As "the writer on, but not of" 1837: The Farmers' Revolt Les Canadiens (1977)--on hockey and nationalism in Quebec--won a second Chalmers. (1973), he won the Chalmers Outstanding Play award. A similar "collective creation" appeared as L.W.A. (1976); and his own

The diversity of Rick's work is seen in later collective and individual plays, including Joey (with Newfoundland company Rising Tide; 1982) and Nathan Cohen: A Review (1981). Grierson and Gouzenko (1986), a TV drama for the CBC, represents his scriptwriting while Living in a Dark Age (1991) is a lively selection of journalism originally written for This Magazine , Toronto Life, and The Financial Post Magazine.

Rick Salutin has worked recently as a columnist for The Globe and Mail, a contributor to Harper's and Saturday Night, and a lecturer at the University of Toronto.

Reading: Salutin, Waiting For Democracy (Penguin: 1989); J. Wasserman, ed., Modern Canadian Plays (Talonbooks: 1986); Wasserman, "Rick Salutin," The Canadian Encyclopedia (Hurtig: 1988), vols. 2-3.