Introduction
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 (KCVI) in Kingston, Ontario, graduating in 1979, then at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, where she graduated with an honours B.A. in 1983.
After reading for an MDiv 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.
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. She was also a well known advocate for Toronto's branch of the Occupy Wall St. Movement, and was one of 3 clergy from different denominations ticketed for setting up a chapel at the Occupy Toronto 're-occupation' camp on May 1, 2012.
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