EVENT DATE: February 10, 2022
TOPIC: Reaching Mithymna: Amoung the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos

Steven Heighton was born in Toronto and spent his youth there and in northern Ontario. Following some travel and work experience in western Canada and Australia, he earned a BA and MA from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. After graduation, he 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.
He is the author of The Waking Comes Late, receiving the 2016 Governor General’s Award for Poetry. His novel Afterlands, was a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and a “best of year” selection in ten publications in Canada, the USA, and the UK. The novel is in pre-production for film. He has also published The Shadow Boxer – a Canadian bestseller and a Publishers’ Weekly Book of the Year for 2002.. Other fiction books include The Nightingale Won’t Let You Sleep and The Dead Are More Visible, while his poetry collections include The Ecstasy of Skeptics and The Address Book.
Steven’s most recent of 19 books are Reaching Mithymna: Among the Volunteers & Refugees on Lesvos (a Writers’ Trust Hilary Weston Prize finalist) and Selected Poems 1983-2020. A widely-acclaimed debut album of original songs, The Devil’s Share, was released this year by Wolfe Island records/CRS Europe. He also translates poetry and writes reviews for the New York Times.
As you can see from this profile, Steven is a very talented wordsmith, who has won and been nominated for numerous literary awards. His fiction and poetry has been translated into ten languages. As well as writing numerous novels, poetry collections and various short story works, he has also taught and mentored writers at various institutes of learning world wide. We are privileged to have him speak to the Canadian Club of Kingston.
Website: www.stevenheighton.com