He has collaborated with numerous other writers including Al Purdy, Theresa Kishkan and Charles Lillard.
He was born in Montreal, Quebec and studied at Sir George Williams University.
Beardsley earned a Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing from the University of Victoria and an M.A.
In 1989, he was shortlisted for the Dorothy Livesay Poetry Prize, and trees were planted in Israel in 1996 in recognition of his services to Holocaust remembrance and education.
[1] In 2005, Beardsley caught the media's attention when he began offering a second-year English course on "Hockey Literature and the Canadian Psyche," examining the place of hockey in the literature and culture of Canada.