David Helwig

David Helwig (born April 5, 1938) is a Canadian poet, novelist and essayist.

David Helwig was born in Toronto, Ontario, where he spent his early childhood years. When he was ten years old, his family moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, where his father ran a small business repairing and refinishing furniture and buying and selling antiques. He earned a B.A. from the University of Toronto in 1960, and an M.A. from the University of Liverpool in 1962. He subsequently taught at Queen's University from 1962 to 1974. While he was at Queen's University, he also taught writing classes in Collins Bay Penitentiary, and co-wrote A Book about Billie with a former inmate.

He was subsequently a literary manager for CBC Television's drama department from 1974 to 1976, and then returned to Queen's as a part-time instructor, while doing a great deal of freelance work. In 1980, he gave up teaching and became a full-time writer.

He currently lives in Prince Edward Island. On 23 January 2008, he was named as Prince Edward Island's third Poet Laureate,^[1] and on 1 July 2009 was named as a Member of the Order of Canada.^[2]

His daughter, Maggie Helwig, is also a noted Canadian writer.

Works by David Helwig

Poetry

• Figures in a Landscape, 1968
• The Sign of the Gunman, 1969
• The Best Name of Silence, 1972
• Atlantic Crossings, 1974
• Book of the Hours, 1979
• The Rain Falls Like Rain, 1982
• Catchpenny Poems, 1983
• The Hundred Old Names, 1989
• The Beloved, 1992
• A Random Gospel, 1996
• This Human Day, 2000
• Telling Stories, 2000
• The Day One, 2004
• The Sway of Otherwise, 2008

Fiction

• The Streets of Summer, 1969 (short stories)
• The Day Before Tomorrow, 1971 (titled Message from a Spy in some printings)
• The Glass Knight, 1976
• Jennifer, 1979
• The King's Evil, 1981
• It Is Always Summer, 1982
• A Sound Like Laughter, 1983
• The Only Son, 1984
• The Bishop, 1986
• A Postcard from Rome, 1988
• Old Wars, 1989
• Of Desire, 1990
• Blueberry Cliffs, 1993
• Just Say the Words, 1994
• Close to the Fire, 1999
• The Time of Her Life, 2000
• The Stand-In, 2002
• Duet, 2004
• Saltsea, 2006
• Smuggling Donkeys, 2007
• Killing McGee, 2011

Other

• A Book About Billie, 1972
• Last Stories of Anton Chekhov, 1991 (as translator)
• The Child of Someone, 1997
• Living Here, 2001
• The Names of Things, 2006
• Coming Through, 2007

References

External links

• David Helwig
• David Helwig's entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia