Stephen Hayton, an Ontario Award winner, author of musical poetry and widely published art and public works, has died at the age of 60.
His publisher, House of Anansi, confirmed his death in an email to CBC Books.
“We have received the news of Stephen Hayton’s death with great sadness, and we extend our deepest condolences to his family. We had the great pleasure of working with Stephen on both his poetry at the House of Anansi and his work for children at Groundwood Books. “We are honored that so many of us have had the opportunity to meet Stephen and interact with his writing,” House of Anansi said in an email to CBC Books.
“Stephen was a prolific and award-winning author, poet and musician. He was also a good friend and a real talent. I will miss him so much.”
Other publishers, Penguin Random House, Biblioasis and Palimpsest Press, have shared their condolences on social media.
The writer in Kingston, Ont., Published six books of poetry, making his debut in 1989 with the provocative title “Stalin’s Carnival”. He immediately won the Gerald Lampert Award for Best First Collection and ranked him as a new and exciting voice in Canadian poetry.
“Stephen Hayton introduced a new foundation to Canadian poetry: an approach to traditional official rigor that was entirely original and personal,” said poet AF Moritz when Stalin’s Carnival was reissued in 2013.
“This has become the seed of what is most truly sought after in the new Canadian poetry.”
Hayton published a second collection of poems, The Ecstasy of the Skeptics, in 1994, but during that decade he began publishing more than his fiction writers. His first book of short fiction, Flight Paths of the Emperor, was a finalist for the Trillium Prize and had a Globe and Mail describing him as “a young Ondaatje, a superb craftsman, calm in foreign places and distant times.”
Interest in foreign places and languages is reflected in much of Hayton’s work. He grew up reading classical British and American literature, spent his youth traveling, lived in Japan for a year, and later became interested in translating poetry.
His fifth book of poetry, Awakening Comes Late, draws on literary predecessors such as the German-Jewish writer Paul Celan. The collection is a grim and grim reflection on the state of the world and the struggle for hope in its future. He won the 2016 Governor-General’s Poetry Literary Award.
“Some of the poems in this book are translations of other poets. I call these translations “approximate,” Hayton said in an interview with CBC Books in 2017.
“Every time you start translating a great poem, you enroll in a master class with a great poet. This makes your own poetry better. It introduces points of view that you may not have invented yourself. It’s a process of enrichment. “
LISTEN | Stephen Hayton for the next chapter:
Next Chapter 4:38 Stephen Hayton answers Proust’s questionnaire
Stephen Hayton answers Proust’s questionnaire. His latest novel is The Nightingale Doesn’t Let You Sleep. 4:38
Hayton later published the memoir Reaching Mithymna, a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Award for Documentary Literature for 2020. The book began in the fall of 2015, when Hayton made a sudden decision to go to Greece and volunteer to help the Syrian refugee crisis unfolding on its shores. Once there, he found himself working in a transit camp offering support to refugees who had recently made the arduous voyage across the sea from Turkey.
“When you try to follow rough instructions, the worry that you may have missed a turn or exceeded your goal slows down the time to quantum creep. A 10-minute walk, especially in the dark, can seem like an hour as you scan on both sides of the road with fading confidence, ”Hayton wrote in Reaching Mithymna.
“This anxiety is very much like a complete panic when you try to target 60 chilled, hungry people who already had to be rescued once tonight.
Stephen Hayton plays football with refugees in the Moria camp. (Presented by Writers’ Trust of Canada)
Some of Hayton’s other publications include the poetry books The Address Book, The Patient’s Shot, and Selected Poems 1983-2020, and the novels The Shadow Boxer, The Underworld, and The Nightingale Will Not Allow You to you are sleeping ”. His books have been translated into 10 languages.
Hayton was an ambitious songwriter before writing poetry. Eventually, he fell in love with words instead of melodies and became obsessed with poetry and fiction.
“It all started with songwriting,” he said in an interview with CBC Books in 2021.
“This is an important point because what critics and readers have been talking about over the years is that my poetry has a musical dimension. This is partly because after I stopped writing songs, it was as if the lyrics were still songs, in the sense that they had to make their own musical accompaniment. By no longer writing melodies that go with the words, I’m putting healthy pressure on the words to make my own music. “
In recent years, Hayton has returned to his music roots with the release of The Devil’s Share.
LISTEN | 2020 by Stephen Hayton
Hatton, along with Canadian poets Canicia Lubrin and Louise Bernice Half, were on the 2021 jury for the CBC Poetry Prize.
The news of Hayton’s death led to an outpouring of grief and love on social media. Stories of his kindness reveal that Hayton was more than a great writer, he was a beloved member of the Canadian writing community.
“Brilliant writer, good soul,” horror writer Andrew Piper said on Twitter.
“I am personally indebted to him for starting his publishing career by forwarding his early stories to his editor – without my knowledge. A glass of good whiskey for you tonight, my friend.
“It’s heartbreaking,” poet Paul Vermisch wrote on Twitter.
“When I was just starting out, 20 years ago, he would call me unexpectedly in a month or so and quote me a poem. I had to name the poem. He wanted to deceive me. I liked that. And He.”
The LCP is saddened to learn of the death of LCP member and famous poet Stephen Hayton. We send our deepest condolences to all who knew and loved him.
In his memory we share his poem from the collection “Poem in your pocket” for 2020. pic.twitter.com/L6FgHzkWCQ
– @CanadianPoets
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