Gwendolyn MacEwen

Gwendolyn Margaret MacEwen (September 1, 1941 – November 28, 1987) was a Canadian poet and novelist. A "sophisticated, wide-ranging and thoughtful writer," she published more than 20 books in her brief life. "A sense of magic and mystery from her own interests in the Gnostics, Ancient Egypt, and magic itself, and from her wonderment at life and death, makes her writing unique.... She's still regarded by most as one of the best Canadian poets."

Life
MacEwen was born in Toronto, Ontario. Her mother, Elsie, spent much of her life as a patient in mental health institutions. Her father, Alick, suffered from alcoholism. Gwendolyn MacEwen grew up in the High Park area of the city, and attended Western Technical-Commercial School.

MacEwen was a prodigy. Her first poem was published in The Canadian Forum when she was only 17, and she left school at 18 to pursue a writing career. By 18 she had written her first novel, Julian the Magician.

"She was small (5'4") and slight, with a round pale face, huge blue eyes usually rimmed in kohl (Egyptian eye shadow), and long dark straight hair."

Her first book of poetry, The Drunken Clock, was published in 1961. She married poet Milton Acorn, 19 years her senior, in 1962, although they divorced two years later.

She published over twenty books, in a variety of genres. She also wrote numerous radio docudramas for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), including a "much-admired radio drama", Terror and Erebus (on the lost 1845 expedition of Sir John Franklin), in 1965.

With her second husband, Greek musician Niko Tsingos, MacEwen opened a Toronto coffeehouse, The Trojan Horse, in 1972. She and Tsingos translated some of the poetry of contemporary Greek writer Yiannis Ritsos (published in her 1981 book Trojan Women).

She taught herself to read Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, and French, translated writers from each of those languages. In 1978 her translation of Euripides' drama The Trojan Women was first performed in Toronto.

She served as writer in residence at the University of Western Ontario in 1985, and the University of Toronto in 1986 and 1987.

MacEwen died in 1987, at the age of 46, of health problems related to alcoholism. She is buried in Toronto's Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Writing
"A sophisticated, wide-ranging and thoughtful writer," says The Canadian Encyclopedia, MacEwen "displayed a commanding interest in magic and history as well as an elaborate and penetrating dexterity in her versecraft."

Her two novels – Julian the Magician, dealing with the ambiguous relationship between the hermetic philosophies of the early Renaissance and Christianity; and King of Egypt, King of Dreams, which imaginatively reconstructed the life and religious reformation of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaton – blend fantasy and history.

Recognition
MacEwen won the Governor General's Award in 1969 for her poetry collection The Shadow Maker. She was awarded a second Governor General's Award posthumously in 1987 for Afterworlds.

Other awards and prizes MacEwen won include the CBC New Canadian Writing Contest for poetry in 1965; the A.J.M. Smith Poetry Award in 1973; the Borestone Mountain Poetry Award in 1983; the CBC Literary Competition, for short story in 1983; and the Du Maurier Awards, gold and silver for poetry, in 1983.

Her writing has been translated into many languages including Chinese, French, German, and Italian.

Rosemary Sullivan published a biography of MacEwen, Shadow Maker: The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen, in 1995, which itself won the Governor General's Award, for non-fiction in 1995.

Fictional tributes to MacEwen have been published by Margaret Atwood (the short story "Isis in Darkness"), and Lorne S. Jones (the novel Mighty Oaks).

A one-woman play by Linda Griffiths, Alien Creature: A Visitation from Gwendolyn MacEwen, won the Dora Mavor Moore Award and the Chalmers Award in 2000.

The former Walmer Road Park in Toronto, at Walmer Road and Lowther Avenue, was renamed Gwendolyn MacEwen Park in her honor in 1994. On September 9, 2006, a bronze bust of MacEwen by her friend, sculptor John McCombe Reynolds, was unveiled in the park.

Poetry

 * Selah. Toronto: Aleph Press, 1961.
 * The Drunken Clock. Toronto: Aleph Press, 1961.
 * The Rising Fire. Toronto: Contact Press, 1963.
 * Erebus and Terror (1965)
 * A Breakfast for Barbarians. Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1966.
 * The Armies of the Moon . Toronto: Macmillan, 1972. ISBN 9780770508685
 * Magic Animals: Selected Poems Old and New. Toronto: Macmillan, 1974. ISBN 9780770512149
 * Trojan Women, 1981.
 * The Fire-Eaters. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1982. ISBN 9780887501791
 * The T. E. Lawrence Poems. Oakville: Mosaic Press, 1982.
 * Earth-Light: Selected Poetry 1963-1982. Toronto: General Publishing, 1982. ISBN 9780773611177
 * The Man with Three Violins 1986 HMS Press (Toronto) ISBN 0-919957-83-8
 * Afterworlds. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1987. ISBN 9780771054280
 * Posthumous


 * Atwood, Margaret and Barry Callaghan, eds. The Poetry of Gwendolyn MacEwen: The Early Years (Volume One). Toronto: Exile Editions, 1993. ISBN 9781550965438
 * Atwood, Margaret and Barry Callaghan, eds. The Poetry of Gwendolyn MacEwen: The Later Years (Volume Two). Toronto: Exile Editions, 1993. ISBN 9781550965476

Fiction

 * Noman. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1972.
 * Noman's Land: stories Coach House Press, 1985. ISBN 9780889103122
 * Noman. Ottawa: Oberon Press, 1972.
 * Noman's Land: stories Coach House Press, 1985. ISBN 9780889103122

Non-fiction

 * Mermaids and Ikons: A Greek Summer. Toronto: House of Anansi, 1978. ISBN 9780887840623

Children's books

 * The Chocolate Moose. Toronto: N/C Press, 1979. ISBN 9780919601574
 * The Honey Drum. Oakville: Mosaic Press, 1983. ISBN 9780889622289
 * Dragon Sandwiches Black Moss Press, 1987. ISBN 9780887531576

Translated

 * Euripides. The Trojan Women. 1979.
 * Aristophanes. The Birds. 1983.

Except where noted, bibliographic information courtesy of Brock University.

Discography

 * Open Secret. CBC Learning Systems, 1972. [phonograph record]
 * Celebration: Famous Canadian Poets CD Canadian Poetry Association &mdash; 2001 ISBN 1-55253-032-9 (CD#3) ( with Raymond Souster )