born in the netherlands, van toorn moved to canada with his family as a child. he attended mcgill university, and taught for almost 30 years at john abbott college. he published the collections "leeway grass" (1970) and "in guildenstern county" (1973) and edited the anthologies "cross/cut: contemporary english quebec poetry" (1982) and "the insecurity of art: essays on poetics" (1982), prior to the publication of "mountain tea". he published no new work following "mountain tea", although "mountain tea" itself was reissued in 2003 by vehicule press.