Steven Heighton (1961-2022) was a writer and musician. His nineteen previous books include the novels Afterlands, a New York Times Book Review Editor's Choice, and the bestselling The Shadow Boxer; the Writers' Trust Hilary Weston Prize finalist memoir Reaching Mithymna: Among the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos; and The Waking Comes Late, winner of the Governor General's Award for Poetry.
Praise for Instructions for the Drowning"To read work like
Heighton's knowing that we won't get more of it [...] inspires fury
in all directions. [...] Every story in this collection has 'it,'
whatever Heighton decided 'it' would be: pacing that thrills;
fragile love and blind hate; descriptions you can smell and taste
and hear."
-New York Times
"Heighton, who died last year at 60, draws on our most vulnerable
moments in this moving collection, full of understated tension and
exacting detail. The characters feel both recognizable and
one-of-a-kind."
-New York Times
"These stories,
by a Canadian novelist, poet, and musician who died last year, peer
keenly into the penumbra surrounding death."
-New Yorker
"To create so many
small worlds and characters that feel so real and populate is an
act of transcendence. To do it well is to offer a gift. In
Instructions, the late Steven Heighton has managed both,
and the gift is ours."
-Globe and Mail
"As these stories demonstrate, human life is a means of exploration
and celebration, threaded through with darkness and loss. In the
midst of death, Heighton seems to say, we are in life: it should be
savoured."
-Toronto Star
"In Instructions for the Drowning, however, he uses his
poet's precision, his depth as a novelist, and his intimacy as a
memoirist to give us a glimpse of the closure he may have hoped
for-for himself, for his characters, and also for his readers."
-The Walrus"Heighton keeps us afloat in the depths
of Instructions' themes with his truly brilliant writing
which is at turns poetic, curious, compassionate and very, very
funny."
-Winnipeg Free Press
"Steven Heighton has left us with a very strong final collection of
short stories. I enjoyed every moment of reading Instructions
for the Drowning, with each story shedding light on different
parts of the human condition."
-Miramichi Reader
"Heighton's almost preternatural ability to recognize what to
include and what to leave out of a particular piece is most
apparent in his poetry and his short fiction, where compression and
precision of language combine to create meaning."
-That Shakespearean Rag
"A
remarkable book by an unparalleled literary talent."
-Steven Beattie, Quill & Quire
(starred)
"Heighton will go down as one of the brightest stars in Canadian
literary history."
-FreeFall Magazine"Masterful ... the Joycean
stories collected in Instructions for the Drowning are
searing reminders: that the other side of rage is a vale of
tears."
-Foreword Reviews (starred)"Instructions for the
Drowning is a short story collection explores themes of love
and fear, delusion and idealism and the ironic ways we come up
short despite trying our very best."
-CBC Books"As Instructions for the Drowning pulls readers
into life's most vulnerable moments, the power and depth of
Heighton's talents shine through each page."
-Toronto Life
"In these 11 expertly constructed and memorable short stories, he
excels at capturing his subjects at moments of maximum stress, in
the process illuminating different aspects of the human
character."
-Shelf Awareness"As a poet and later as fiction
writer Steven Heighton had this stunning range of voice in his
stories. He would go anywhere. He always surprised you. His death
as a still young writer is a tragedy and a great loss. He was a
writer who grew so much with each book. You could always witness it
happening."
-Michael Ondaatje, author of Warlight and The English
Patient"Steven Heighton is one of our most ethical, profound
writers. These stories face delusion and illumination, rebellion
and surrender, they shock with their beauty and their
understanding. The characters, living and dead, are gatherers of
knowledge yet the deepest parts of themselves come alive in all
they cannot know. Heighton leaves us an unforgettable work that,
through its rigour and exactitude, finds within itself a
desperately moving liberation."
-Madeleine Thien, author of Do Not Say We Have Nothing
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