Steven Heighton (August 14, 1961 – April 19, 2022) was a Canadian fiction writer, poet, and singer-songwriter. He is the author of eighteen books, including three short story collections, four novels, and seven poetry collections.
''Canadian Poetry Online''. His last work was ''Selected Poems 1983-2020'' (

House of Anansi Press House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and Dave Godfrey. The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. History Anansi ...

) and an album, ''The Devil's Share''.

Life and work

Heighton was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anc ...

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 ...

, and grew up there and in Red Lake, in northern Ontario. He travelled and worked in western Canada and Australia after high school, got a BA and MA from Queen's University in

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toront ...

, and then travelled and worked for two years in Asia before settling back in Kingston and starting to write, at first part-time and eventually full-time. Heighton's most recent books are the novel ''The Nightingale Won't Let You Sleep'' (2017), the

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

-winning poetry collection ''The Waking Comes Late'' (2016), and the Trillium Award finalist ''The Dead Are More Visible'' (May 2012). Heighton is also the author of the novel ''Afterlands'' (2006), which appeared in six countries and was cited on best of year lists in ten publications in Canada, the US, and Britain. The book is in pre-production for film. Heighton's debut novel, ''The Shadow Boxer'' (2001), a story about a young poet-boxer and his struggles growing up, also appeared in five countries. His work has been translated into ten languages and widely anthologised. He won the Governor General's Award for Poetry in 2016. His books have been nominated for the Governor General's Award, the Trillium Award (twice), the Journey Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and Britain's W.H. Smith Award (best book of the year). He received the

Gerald Lampert Award The Gerald Lampert Memorial Award is made annually by the League of Canadian Poets to the best volume of poetry published by a first-time poet. It is presented in honour of poetry promoter Gerald Lampert. Each winner receives an honorarium of $10 ...

, four gold and one silver award for fiction and for poetry in the

National Magazine Awards The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...

, the Air Canada Award, the P.K. Page Award, the K.M. Hunter Award, and the Petra Kenney Prize. ''Flight Paths of the Emperor'' has been listed at Amazon.ca as one of the ten best Canadian short story collections and has been published in Britain by Granta Books. Heighton has been the writer-in-residence at

McGill University McGill University (french: link=no, Université McGill) is an English-language public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter granted by King George IV,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill Univers ...

, Queen's, Concordia, the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ott ...

, and

Massey College Massey College is a graduate residential college at the University of Toronto that was established, built and partially endowed in 1962 by the Massey Foundation and officially opened in 1963, though women were not admitted until 1974. It was mod ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. He has also led writing workshops at the Summer Literary Seminars in Saint Petersburg, Russia (2007), the May Studios at the Banff Centre for the Arts (2001), Writing with Style at the Banff Centre, and the Sage Hill Writing Experience in Blackstrap Lake, Saskatchewan (2015 and 2016.) His nonfiction book ''Reaching Mithymna: Among the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos'' was shortlisted for the 2020

Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction The Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction is a Canadian literary award, presented annually by the Writers' Trust of Canada to the best work of non-fiction by a Canadian writer. Canada's most lucrative non-fiction prize, the winner r ...

. In April 2021, Heighton released an album of eleven original songs with Wolfe Island Records/CRS Europe. ''The Devil's Share'' emerges from "an alchemical bath of blues, rock, folk, country, soul, and Americana." It was recorded at the Post Office Studio, Wolfe Island, Ontario, and produced by Hugh Christopher Brown. Heighton died on April 19, 2022, at the age of 60 of cancer. He lived in Kingston,

Bibliography

Novels

* ''The Shadow Boxer'' (2000) Knopf Canada * ''Afterlands'' (2005) Knopf Canada * ''Every Lost Country'' (2010) Knopf Canada * ''The Nightingale Won't Let You Sleep'' (2017)

Short stories

* ''Flight Paths of the Emperor'' (1992) The Porcupine's Quill * ''On earth as it is'' (1995) The Porcupine's Quill * ''The Dead Are More Visible'' (2012) Knopf Canada * ''Instructions for the Drowning'' (2023)

Biblioasis Biblioasis is a Canadian independent bookstore and publishing company, based in Windsor, Ontario.House of Anansi Press House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and Dave Godfrey. The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. History Anansi ...

* ''The Address Book'' (2004)

* ''Patient Frame'' (2010)

* ''The Waking Comes Late'' (2016)

* ''Selected Poems: 1983-2020'' (2021)

Nonfiction

* ''Reaching Mithymna'' (2020)

* ''Workbook'' (2011)

ECW Press ECW Press is a Canadian book publisher located in Toronto, Ontario. It was founded by Jack David and Robert Lecker in 1974 as a Canadian literary magazine named ''Essays on Canadian Writing''. They started publishing trade and scholarly boo ...

* ''The Virtues of Disillusionment'' (2020) Athabasca University Press

Music

*''The Devil's Share'' (2021)

Anthologies and magazines

*''Best American Mystery Stories'' (James Patterson, ed., Norton, 2015) *''70 Canadian Poets'' (Gary Geddes, ed., Oxford, 2015) *''Best American Poetry'' (Mark Doty, ed., Scribner, 2012) *''Finding the Words'' (Jared Bland, ed., 2011) *''The Best Canadian Poetry'' (Molly Peacock, series ed., Tightrope Books, 2009, 2010, 2011) *''Best Canadian Stories'' (Oberon, 1989, ’92, ’95, ’04, ’07) *''The New Story Writers'' (John Metcalf, ed., Quarry Press, 1991) *''Best English Short Stories'' (David Hughes & Giles Gordon, eds., Heinemann, U.K., 1992) *''The Minerva Book of Short Stories 5'' (Hughes & Gordon, eds., Minerva, U.K., 1993) *''Best of Best English Short Stories 1986-1995'' (Hughes & Gordon, eds., Minerva, 1996) *''The Journey Prize Anthology 4'' (M&S, 1992) *''The Literature of Work'' (University of Phoenix Press, 1993) *''The Second Gates of Paradise'' (Alberto Manguel, ed., MW&R, 1995) *''Canadian Short Fiction'', second edition (W.H. New, ed., Prentice Hall, 1996) *''Writing Home'' (Constance Rooke, ed., M&S, 1997) *''Turn of the Story'' (Joan Thomas & Heidi Harms, eds., Anansi, 1999) *''Lost Classics'' (Ondaatje, Redhill, Spalding, and Spalding, eds. Knopf, 2000) *''The Reader'' (Carolyn Meyer & Bruce Meyer, eds., Prentice Hall, 2001) *''The Notebooks'' (Michelle Berry & Natalee Caple, eds. Doubleday, 2002) *''Viewpoints 12'' (Prentice Hall, 2002) *''The New Canon'' (ed. Carmine Starnino, Véhicule, 2005) *''Literature'' (ed. Laurie G. Kirszner, Stephen R. Mandell, and Candace Fertile: Thomson/Nelson 2007) *''The Exile Book of Canadian Sports Stories'' (ed. Priscila Uppal, Exile Editions, 2009)

Prizes and honours

*1990 Gerald Lampert Award for best first poetry collection (for ''Stalin’s Carnival'') *1991 Prism International Short Story Competition, first prize for "Five Paintings of the New Japan" *1992 Finalist, The Journey Prize *1992 National Magazine Awards gold medal for fiction *1993 Finalist, Trillium Award (for ''Flight Paths of the Emperor'') *1995 Finalist, Governor General's Award for Poetry (for ''The Ecstasy of Skeptics'') *2002 Petra Kenney Prize for Poetry *2004 National Magazine Awards gold medal for poetry *2008 National Magazine Awards gold medal for fiction *2010 National Magazine Awards gold medal for fiction *2010 K.M. Hunter Award for literature *2011 National Magazine Awards silver for poetry *2011 P.K. Page Founder's Award *2013 Finalist, Trillium Award (for ''The Dead Are More Visible'') *2016 Governor General's Award for Poetry (for ''The Waking Comes Late'') *2019 Finalist, The Moth International Poetry Prize

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Heighton, Steven 1961 births 2022 deaths Deaths from cancer in Ontario Canadian male novelists 20th-century Canadian poets 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male poets Canadian male short story writers Queen's University at Kingston alumni Writers from Kingston, Ontario Writers from Toronto Royal Military College of Canada faculty 21st-century Canadian poets 21st-century Canadian novelists 20th-century Canadian short story writers 21st-century Canadian short story writers Governor General's Award-winning poets 21st-century Canadian male writers