Maggie Helwig (born 1961) is a Canadian poet, novelist, social justice activist, and
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
priest.
Academic career
Her early education was at
Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute
Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute (KCVI) was a secondary school in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1792 by Reverend John Stuart based upon a grant for secondary education in the colony of Upper Canada, it moved to its location at ...
in
Kingston,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, graduating in 1979, then at
Trent University
Trent University is a public liberal arts university in Peterborough, Ontario, with a satellite campus in Oshawa, which serves the Regional Municipality of Durham. Trent is known for its Oxbridge college system and small class sizes. in
Peterborough
Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...
, Ontario, where she graduated with honours with a
Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...
degree in 1983.
After reading for a
Master of Divinity
For graduate-level theological institutions, the Master of Divinity (MDiv, ''magister divinitatis'' in Latin) is the first professional degree of the pastoral profession in North America. It is the most common academic degree in seminaries and divi ...
degree and serving as co-Head of Divinity at
Trinity College Trinity College may refer to:
Australia
* Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales
* Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...
, Toronto, she was ordained to the transitional
diaconate
A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Churc ...
in the
Anglican Church of Canada
The Anglican Church of Canada (ACC or ACoC) is the Ecclesiastical province#Anglican Communion, province of the Anglican Communion in Canada. The official French-language name is ''l'Église anglicane du Canada''. In 2017, the Anglican Church co ...
at
St. Paul's, Bloor Street, Toronto on 1 May 2011, and subsequently to the priesthood on 22 January 2012. On 27 November 2021, she was appointed an honorary Canon of St James' Cathedral, Toronto.
Bibliography
Helwig's second novel, ''Between Mountains'', is a love story about a London-based Canadian journalist and a Serbian Albanian interpreter from Paris that endures the hardships that occurred during the war. The novel juxtaposes love and war within the characters while bringing about justice and truth.
Her third novel, ''Girls Fall Down'', 2008, was shortlisted for the 2009
Toronto Book Awards The Toronto Book Awards are Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the City of Toronto government
The municipal government of Toronto ( incorporated as the City of Toronto) is the local government responsible for administering the city ...
.
Jason McBride, writing in ''
Toronto Life
''Toronto Life'' is a monthly magazine about entertainment, politics and life in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ''Toronto Life'' also publishes a number of annual special interest guides about the city, including ''Real Estate'', ''Stylebook'', ''Eatin ...
'', described it as being "smart, suspenseful and compassionate." Finally, in a book review by
Greg Doran
Gregory Doran (born 24 November 1958) is an English director known for his Shakespearean work. ''The Sunday Times'' called him 'one of the great Shakespearians of his generation'.
Doran was artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (R ...
, the novel is described as the narrator having a significant relationship with the "urban environment and the human spirit."
She has also co-edited many anthologies of Canadian fiction and poetry, with collaborators including
Bronwen Wallace
Bronwen Wallace (26 May 1945 – 25 August 1989) was a Canadian poet and short story writer.
Life and career
Wallace was born in Kingston, Ontario. She attended Queen's University, Kingston (B.A. 1967, M.A. 1969). In 1970, she moved to Windsor, ...
,
Douglas Glover,
Mark Anthony Jarman
Mark Anthony Jarman (born 11 June 1955 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian fiction writer. Jarman's work includes the novel ''Salvage King, Ya!'', the short story collection ''Knife Party at the Hotel Europa'' and the travel book ''Ireland's Eye. ...
and her father,
David Helwig
David Helwig (April 5, 1938 – October 16, 2018) was a Canadian editor, essayist, memoirist, novelist, poet, short story writer and translator.
Life and career
Helwig was born in Toronto, Ontario, where he spent his early childhood years. When h ...
.
Activism
Helwig has been involved in social activist groups such as
TAPOL, the East Timor Alert Network, and the International Federation for East Timor which campaigned against the
Indonesian occupation of East Timor. She has also worked with the
Women in Black
Women in Black ( he, נשים בשחור, ''Nashim BeShahor'') is a women's anti-war movement with an estimated 10,000 activists around the world. The first group was formed by Israeli women in Jerusalem in 1988, following the outbreak of the Fi ...
network, particularly during the
Balkan wars
The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...
of the 1990s. She was also a well known advocate for Toronto's branch of the
Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a protest Social movement, movement against economic inequality and the Campaign finance, influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial District, Manhattan, Wall S ...
movement, and was one of three clergy from different denominations ticketed for setting up a chapel at the
Occupy Toronto "re-occupation" camp on May 1, 2012.
Works
Poetry
* ''Walking Through Fire'', 1981
* ''Tongues of Men and Angels'', 1985
* ''Eden'', 1987
* ''Because the Gunman'', 1987
* ''Talking Prophet Blues'', 1989
* ''Graffiti for J.J. Harper'', 1991
* ''Eating Glass'', 1994
* ''The City on Wednesday'', 1996
* ''One Building In the Earth: New and Selected Poems'', 2002
Fiction
* ''Gravity Lets You Down'', 1997 (
short fiction
A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...
)
* ''Where She Was Standing'', 2001
* ''Between Mountains'', 2004
* ''Girls Fall Down'', 2008
Essays
* ''Apocalypse Jazz'', 1993
* ''Real Bodies'', 2002
See also
*
Canadian literature
Canadian literature is the literature of a multicultural country, written in languages including Canadian English, Canadian French, Indigenous languages, and many others such as Canadian Gaelic. Influences on Canadian writers are broad both ge ...
*
Canadian poetry
Canadian poetry is poetry of or typical of Canada. The term encompasses poetry written in Canada or by Canadian people in the official languages of English and French, and an increasingly prominent body of work in both other European and Indigenou ...
*
List of Canadian poets
This is a list of Canadian poets. Years link to corresponding "earin poetry" articles.
A
*Mark Abley (born 1955), poet, journalist, editor, and non-fiction writer.
*Milton Acorn (1923–1986), poet, writer, and playwright
* José Acquelin ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helwig, Maggie
1961 births
20th-century Canadian novelists
20th-century Canadian poets
20th-century Canadian women writers
21st-century Canadian novelists
21st-century Canadian poets
21st-century Canadian women writers
Activists from Ontario
Anglo-Catholic clergy
Anglo-Catholic writers
Canadian Anglican priests
Canadian Anglo-Catholics
Canadian human rights activists
Women human rights activists
Canadian women activists
Canadian women novelists
Canadian women poets
Living people
New Democratic Party people
People associated with Greenpeace
People from Wallasey
Trent University alumni
Trinity College (Canada) alumni
Writers from Kingston, Ontario
Writers from Toronto