Canadian poet and writer Steven Heighton, who over his decades-long career published 19 books, died April 19 at age 60. He won a Governor General's Literary Award for his 2016 collection The Waking Comes Late, but his published works spanned genres, including several novels, a children's book, a memoir, essays and a story collection. Heighton published six books of poetry, debuting in 1989 with Stalin's Carnival, which won the Gerald Lampert Award for best first collection, and was followed by The Ecstasy of Skeptics (1994). His first book of short fiction, Flight Paths of the Emperor, was a finalist for the Trillium Award. He later published the memoir Reaching Mithymna, a finalist for the 2020 Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. Other works include poetry titles The Address Book and Patient Frame; as well as novels The Shadow Boxer, Afterlands and The Nightingale Won't Let You Sleep.
Biblioasis publisher Dan Wells wrote: "He challenged and encouraged in equal measure, almost always getting the balance right. In this age of ironic detachment he risked being earnest, vulnerable, showing care and concern." Heighton's most recent published book was last year's Selected Poems, 1983-2020, available from House of Anansi Press.
