Steven Heighton is a Canadian novelist, short story writer and poet. He is the author of ten books, including two short story collections, three novels, and five poetry collections. His most recent novel, Every Lost Country, was published in 2010.

Life and work

Heighton was born in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, and earned a Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 and Master of Arts

Master of Arts (postgraduate)

A Master of Arts from the Latin Magister Artium, is a type of Master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The M.A. is usually contrasted with the M.S. or M.Sc. degrees...

 degree, at Queens University.

Heighton's most recent books are the novel Every Lost Country (May 2010) and the poetry collection Patient Frame (April 2010).

Heighton is also the author of the novel Afterlands (2006),which appeared in six countries. The book has recently been optioned for film. Steven 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. His books have been nominated for the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Award, the Journey Prize, a Pushcart Prize, and Britain’s W.H. Smith Award (best book of the year). He has received the Gerald Lampert Award, gold medals for fiction and for poetry in the National Magazine Awards, the Air Canada Award, and the 2002 Petra Kenney Prize. Flight Paths of the Emperor has been listed at Amazon.ca as one of the ten best Canadian short story collections.

Heighton has been the writer-in-residence at McArthur College, Queen's University

Queen's University

Queen's University, , is a public research university located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded on 16 October 1841, the university pre-dates the founding of Canada by 26 years. Queen's holds more more than of land throughout Ontario as well as Herstmonceux Castle in East Sussex, England...

, the University of Ottawa

University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa is a bilingual, research-intensive, non-denominational, international university in Ottawa, Ontario. It is one of the oldest universities in Canada. It was originally established as the College of Bytown in 1848 by the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate...

, and the Royal Military College of Canada

Royal Military College of Canada

The Royal Military College of Canada, RMC, or RMCC , is the military academy of the Canadian Forces, and is a degree-granting university. RMC was established in 1876. RMC is the only federal institution in Canada with degree granting powers...

. He has also participated in several workshops including the Summer Literary Seminars, poetry work shop, in St. Petersburg, Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

 (2007), and the Writing with Style, short fiction workshop, in Banff, Alberta

Alberta

Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...

 (2007).

Heighton currently lives in Kingston

Kingston, Ontario

Kingston, Ontario is a Canadian city located in Eastern Ontario where the St. Lawrence River flows out of Lake Ontario. Originally a First Nations settlement called "Katarowki," , growing European exploration in the 17th Century made it an important trading post...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 with his family.

Heighton on writing

“Interest is never enough. If it doesn't haunt you, you'll never write it well. What haunts and obsesses you into writing may, with luck and labour, interest your readers. What merely interests you is sure to bore them.”

Novels

• Shadow Boxer (2000) Knopf Canada
• Afterlands (2005) Knopf Canada
• Every Lost Country (2010) Knopf Canada

Short stories

• Flight Paths of the Emperor (1992) The Porcupine’s Quill
• On earth as it is (1995) The Porcupine’s Quill

Poetry

• Foreign Ghosts (1989) Oberon Press
• Stalin’s Carnival (1989) Quarry Press
• The Ecstasy of Skeptics (1994) House of Anansi Press
  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....
  
  
• Address Book (2004) House of Anansi Press
  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....
  
  
• Patient Frame (2010) House of Anansi Press
  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....
  
  

Essays

• The Admen Move on Lhasa: Writing & Culture in a Virtual World (1997) House of Anansi Press

Anthologies and magazines

• 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, Vehicule, 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)
• 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)
• 1997 Finalist, Rogers Communication Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize (for Small Change)
• 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

External links

• Author's website
• Steven Heighton's entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia
• Interview: Steven Heighton on his new novel: immersed in story.John Geddes June.1 2010
• Scholerly article: Lhasa Unlimited: The Metaphysics of Death in Steven Heighton's The Admen Move on Lhasa and "Translations of April. Dobozy, T. (2001)
• Book Review: Yarbrough, S. (2002). THE SHADOW BOXER. Magill Book Reviews