Maggie Helwig

Canadian writer, social justice activist, and Anglican priest

Cleric
novelist
poet
social activist

ParentDavid HelwigWriting careerLanguageEnglishPeriod1981–present Ecclesiastical careerReligionChristianity (Anglican)ChurchAnglican Church of CanadaOrdained

2011 (deacon)
2012 (priest)

Congregations served

Church of St Stephen-in-the-Fields, Toronto Websitemaggiehelwig.com

Maggie Helwig (born 1961) is a Canadian poet, novelist, social justice activist, and Anglican priest.

Academic career

Her early education was at Kingston Collegiate and Vocational Institute in Kingston, Ontario, graduating in 1979,^[1] then at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where she graduated with honours with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1983.

After reading for a Master of Divinity degree and serving as co-Head of Divinity at Trinity College, Toronto, she was ordained to the transitional diaconate in the Anglican Church of Canada at St. Paul's, Bloor Street, Toronto on 1 May 2011, and subsequently to the priesthood on 22 January 2012. On 27 November 2021, she was appointed an honorary Canon of St James' Cathedral, Toronto.

Bibliography

Helwig's second novel, Between Mountains, is a love story about a London-based Canadian journalist and a Serbian Albanian interpreter from Paris that endures the hardships that occurred during the war. The novel juxtaposes love and war within the characters while bringing about justice and truth.^[2]

Her third novel, Girls Fall Down, 2008, was shortlisted for the 2009 Toronto Book Awards.^[3] Jason McBride, writing in Toronto Life, described it as being "smart, suspenseful and compassionate."^[4] Finally, in a book review by Greg Doran, the novel is described as the narrator having a significant relationship with the "urban environment and the human spirit."^[5]

She has also co-edited many anthologies of Canadian fiction and poetry, with collaborators including Bronwen Wallace, Douglas Glover, Mark Anthony Jarman and her father, David Helwig.^[6]

Activism

Helwig has been involved in social activist groups such as TAPOL, the East Timor Alert Network, and the International Federation for East Timor which campaigned against the Indonesian occupation of East Timor. She has also worked with the Women in Black network, particularly during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.^[7] She was also a well known advocate for Toronto's branch of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and was one of three clergy from different denominations ticketed for setting up a chapel at the Occupy Toronto "re-occupation" camp on May 1, 2012.^[8]^[9]^[10]

Works

Poetry

Walking Through Fire, 1981
Tongues of Men and Angels, 1985
Eden, 1987
Because the Gunman, 1987
Talking Prophet Blues, 1989
Graffiti for J.J. Harper, 1991
Eating Glass, 1994
The City on Wednesday, 1996
One Building In the Earth: New and Selected Poems, 2002

Fiction

Gravity Lets You Down, 1997 (short fiction)
Where She Was Standing, 2001
Between Mountains, 2004
Girls Fall Down, 2008

Essays

Apocalypse Jazz, 1993
Real Bodies, 2002

References

^ Canadian Forum; Apr2000, Vol. 79 Issue 887, p17, 3p, 1 Black and White Photograph
^ Grekul, Lisa. Canadian Literature, Fall 2005, Issue 186, p193-193, 1/2p
^ City of Toronto, Toronto Book Awards - 2009: Maggie Helwig
^ Jason McBride, "Text in the City", Toronto Life, April 2008; 42,4; CBCA Complete
^ Canadian Literature; Spring 2009, Issue 200, p152-154, 3p
^ Curriculum vitae, Maggie Helwig Archived 14 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine; see also Oberon Press website, "All titles". Retrieved 28 December 2010.
^ Interview by Annie Wilson Archived 17 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Published in Pulse Niagara, 7–13 August 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2010.
^ Kauri, Vidya (3 May 2012). "Two Priests and a Minister Ticketed for Trying to Set Up a Chapel Tent at Occupy Rally". National Post. Toronto. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
^ Cole, Susan G. (24 February 2012). "Girls Fall Down, the Library's One Book for 2012". Now. Toronto. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
^ Sison, Marites N. (8 May 2012). "Taking Prayer to the Streets". Anglican Journal. Toronto. Retrieved 2 May 2019.