The Names of Things A Memoir
by David Helwig
The Names of Things is a book about a man and a generation. Born to a working-class family in Toronto, David Helwig grew up in the haunted town of Niagara-on-the-Lake long before it became a fashionable summer destination for charter coaches of American tourists. David won a scholarship from General Motors to attend the University of Toronto and launched himself into theatrical productions at Hart House and mingled with such writers as John Robert Colombo, Henry Beissel, Edward Lacey, David Lewis Stein and Edna Paris.
After working in summer stock with young actors including Timothy Findley, Gordon Pinsent and Jackie Burroughs, he spent a couple of years in the suburbs of Birkenhead, then moved to Kingston where, in the 1960s he shared the world of little magazines with Tom Marshall and Michael Ondaatje and the world of prisons with the inmates he taught. In the 1970s he worked under John Hirsch at the CBC. He edited books for Oberon Press. He was part of the generation of young Canadian writers who believed they could achieve anything. He also shares a touching account of family life, of learning to be a father. Poetry, some of it never before published, catches the echoes of the life he lived. From childhood during the Second World War to becoming a grandfather at the millennium, this is the story of one man and his connections with the history of Canada in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Biography & AutobiographyLiterary FiguresPersonal Memoirs
RELEASED2006
PUBLISHERThe Porcupine's Quill
LENGTH304
LANGUAGEEN
David Helwig, CM, a Canadian editor, essayist, memoirist, novelist, poet, short story writer and translator, was born and spent his early childhood years in Toronto, Ontario. When he was ten years old, his family moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where his father ran an antiques business. He received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 1960 and two years later, a Masters degree from the University of Liverpool. After graduating, he returned to Canada to teach at Queen's University in Kingston. His first book, a collection of poems called <i>Figures in a Landscape</i>, was published in 1968 with Oberon Press. In 1992 he moved to Montreal, then after four years there, to Belfast, Prince Edward Island. In 2007, he received the Matt Cohen Award from the Writers' Trust of Canada in honour of his lifetime contribution to Canadian literature. He was appointed Prince Edward Island's third Poet Laureate in 2008 and on July 1, 2009 was named a Member of the Order of Canada. Helwig published nearly fifty books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction over the course of his five-decade career. He died on October 16, 2018, at the age of 80 in Montague, Prince Edward Island.
The Names of Things A Memoir
by David Helwig
The Names of Things is a book about a man and a generation. Born to a working-class family in Toronto, David Helwig grew up in the haunted town of Niagara-on-the-Lake long before it became a fashionable summer destination for charter coaches of American tourists. David won a scholarship from General Motors to attend the University of Toronto and launched himself into theatrical productions at Hart House and mingled with such writers as John Robert Colombo, Henry Beissel, Edward Lacey, David Lewis Stein and Edna Paris.
After working in summer stock with young actors including Timothy Findley, Gordon Pinsent and Jackie Burroughs, he spent a couple of years in the suburbs of Birkenhead, then moved to Kingston where, in the 1960s he shared the world of little magazines with Tom Marshall and Michael Ondaatje and the world of prisons with the inmates he taught. In the 1970s he worked under John Hirsch at the CBC. He edited books for Oberon Press. He was part of the generation of young Canadian writers who believed they could achieve anything. He also shares a touching account of family life, of learning to be a father. Poetry, some of it never before published, catches the echoes of the life he lived. From childhood during the Second World War to becoming a grandfather at the millennium, this is the story of one man and his connections with the history of Canada in the latter part of the twentieth century.
Biography & AutobiographyLiterary FiguresPersonal Memoirs
RELEASED2006
PUBLISHERThe Porcupine's Quill
LENGTH304
LANGUAGEEN
David Helwig, CM, a Canadian editor, essayist, memoirist, novelist, poet, short story writer and translator, was born and spent his early childhood years in Toronto, Ontario. When he was ten years old, his family moved to Niagara-on-the-Lake, where his father ran an antiques business. He received a Bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto in 1960 and two years later, a Masters degree from the University of Liverpool. After graduating, he returned to Canada to teach at Queen's University in Kingston. His first book, a collection of poems called <i>Figures in a Landscape</i>, was published in 1968 with Oberon Press. In 1992 he moved to Montreal, then after four years there, to Belfast, Prince Edward Island. In 2007, he received the Matt Cohen Award from the Writers' Trust of Canada in honour of his lifetime contribution to Canadian literature. He was appointed Prince Edward Island's third Poet Laureate in 2008 and on July 1, 2009 was named a Member of the Order of Canada. Helwig published nearly fifty books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction over the course of his five-decade career. He died on October 16, 2018, at the age of 80 in Montague, Prince Edward Island.
