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Steven Heighton

すてぃーぶん・はいとん

Sutībun Haiton

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1961-08-14 （Toronto, Ontario, Canada）
Died
2022-04-19 （Kingston, Ontario, Canada） age 60
Nationality
Canada
Languages
English
Residence History
Toronto, Ontario → Red Lake, Ontario → Western Canada → Australia → Asia → Kingston, Ontario

Career

Occupations
novelist, short story writer, poet, non-fiction writer, singer-songwriter
Active Years
1989-2022
Affiliations
McGill University (writer-in-residence), Queen's University (writer-in-residence), Concordia University (writer-in-residence), University of Ottawa (writer-in-residence), Massey College, University of Toronto (writer-in-residence)
Nominations
Trillium Award finalist (Flight Paths of the Emperor, 1993), Governor General's Award for Poetry finalist (The Ecstasy of Skeptics, 1995), Trillium Award finalist (The Dead Are More Visible, 2013), Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction shortlist (Reaching Mithymna, 2020), The Moth International Poetry Prize finalist (2019)

Education

Queen's University
Degree: BA, MA
Country: Canada

Awards

Governor General's Award for English-language poetry
2016
Work: The Waking Comes Late
Category: Poetry
Organization: Governor General's Literary Awards
Result: Winner
Gerald Lampert Award
1990
Work: Stalin’s Carnival
Category: Best first poetry collection
Organization: League of Canadian Poets
Result: Winner
National Magazine Awards
1992
Work: Five Paintings of the New Japan
Category: Fiction
Organization: National Magazine Awards Foundation
Result: Gold Medal
National Magazine Awards
2004
Category: Poetry
Organization: National Magazine Awards Foundation
Result: Gold Medal
National Magazine Awards
2008
Category: Fiction
Organization: National Magazine Awards Foundation
Result: Gold Medal
National Magazine Awards
2010
Category: Fiction
Organization: National Magazine Awards Foundation
Result: Gold Medal
K.M. Hunter Award
2010
Category: Literature
Result: Winner
P.K. Page Founder's Award
2011
Category: Poetry
Result: Winner
Petra Kenney Prize
2002
Category: Poetry
Result: Winner

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

The Waking Comes Late

2016 Poetry

Governor General's Award-winning poetry collection.

wakinglate waking

Afterlands

2006 Novel

Historical novel based on polar exploration.

explorationsurvivallove
Adaptations
  • [Film] Afterlands

The Shadow Boxer

2000 Novel

Story of a young poet-boxer and his struggles.

poetryboxingcoming of age

Flight Paths of the Emperor

1992 Short story collection

Short story collection, listed as one of Canada's best.

Bibliography

  • Foreign Ghosts (1989)
  • Stalin’s Carnival (1989)
  • The Ecstasy of Skeptics (1994)
  • Flight Paths of the Emperor (1992)
  • On earth as it is (1995)
  • The Shadow Boxer (2000)
  • Afterlands (2005)
  • The Address Book (2004)
  • Patient Frame (2010)
  • Every Lost Country (2010)
  • The Dead Are More Visible (2012)
  • The Nightingale Won't Let You Sleep (2017)
  • Reaching Mithymna (2020)
  • Selected Poems 1983-2020 (2021)
  • Instructions for the Drowning (2023)
  • Sacred Rage: Selected Stories (2025)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
lyricalnarrative
Recurring Motifs
travellossnature

Health

  • cancer
    晩年
    Died on April 19, 2022.

Legacy

Prominent Canadian poet and novelist. Winner of Governor General's Award. Works translated into 10 languages.

Trivia

  • Travelled and worked in western Canada and Australia after high school.
  • Multiple English-language literary awards.
  • Final works: Selected Poems 1983-2020 and album The Devil's Share.