David Helwig: recently published

In the dark at the end of winter, a shot is heard. A famous public figure lies dead. The murder haunts a Canadian historian as he reflects on the ruinous state of his own life. Only fierce honesty and a wry sense of humour keep him going. A beautiful student vanishes. Snow and cold threaten. But he finds that he can reinvent history and perhaps his own life. David Helwig has written a superbly lovely story, a tale touched by beauty in a world otherwise driven by cold and darkness.

"Helwig has a marvellous comedic aptitude for description"
--Quill & Quire

"Stories that display his considerable talent for characterization and wry inventiveness . . . as strong and substantial as anything anyone in Canada is writing today."
--Winnipeg Free Press

Graceful and vigorous poems . . . Buy Helwig's The Sway of Otherwise and enjoy the work of an accomplished and mature poet." -- Journal of Canadian Poetry

"The Sway of Otherwise is a wonderful collection. These are beautiful poems: spare, elegant and intelligent, they are so well-worked that their sway looks effortless." -- Dalhousie Review

"What I liked about this collection is the way sound complements meaning, as well as the accessibility of his style (there are poems here that anyone can read and enjoy)." -- The Overdecorated Bookcase

"Through a deft, quiet use of form, Helwig aims for that which eludes form; that moves beyond view, shapeless and attending only to itself . . . Helwig uses form, more often than not, to its best advantage, focusing on what lies beyond, behind, between the words of the poem. He knows, also, to break form when required, when the sensory details need to squirm away in sudden, unexpected, or energetic ways. This is when The Sway of Otherwise is at its most masterful." -- Laurie D. Graham, The Malahat Review

"Smuggling Donkeys lacks nothing in largeness of thought or spirit. Helwig's sense of life's unpredictability/possibility grows more acute with each new book, and perhaps his novellas demonstrate this best. They are finely tuned explorations of flawed but redeemable human existence, intense and tender, buoyed by gentle humour and hope." -- Canadian Notes and Queries
"I enjoyed this book . . . With David Helwig I felt I was in good hands; he knows what he is doing. He controls the language of his characters without faltering, turning out a masterful monologue. His insights are sharp, characterization exact, and he is also very funny." -- The Indextrious Reader
"He's never more entertaining than he is in the novella form, and his three recent ones -- The Stand-In (2002), Duet (2004) and now Smuggling Donkeys -- are as funny and absorbing as anything you'll find in Canadian literature today." -- Prairie Fire Review of Books
" . . . impeccable comic timing . . . " -- Quill and Quire

On sale only in USA

"Three novellas from a Canadian master" -- Los Angeles Times

"Veteran Canadian writer David Helwig . . . is a formidable talent . . . a pleasure to spend time with." -- Publishers Weekly

"As a reader you feel as if you've gone to this quaint place for a vacation and met all these intriguing people . . . Helwig's considerable accomplishment is that he makes you care about all of them. Since he gives you lots to laugh about as well as some insight into the past and some mystery, you come away from Saltsea feeling that it was the best damn vacation you've had in a long time . . . a novel that may be his finest." -- Dave Williamson, The Globe and Mail
"A cast of central and peripheral characters, each one more interesting than the last . . . the novel succeeds beautifully, thanks to Helwig's poetic, dramatic and cinematic talents." -- Books in Canada
" . . . marvellously told. Helwig's talent creates each individual in this crowded cast of characters as someone with a full and present existence." -- The Indextrious Reader

"a fine new memoir . . . a chronicle of his life in Canadian letters that spans the last half-century . . . packed with everything one wants in a memoir." The Globe and Mail
"A highly polished piece of writing in its structure and its tone . . . a fine memoir . . . a document in the history of a generation of writers." -- George Fetherling, The New Brunswick Reader
"This is a writer who has been unfailingly industrious . . . He had not only created a substantial body of work in fiction and poetry, but taught English literature . . . toiled as a freelance book reviewer, journalist, editor, anthologist . . . His account of his undergraduate days at the University of Toronto is particularly interesting." -- Philip Marchand, Toronto Star

Duet, a vivid and comic account of a stubbornly unromantic romance, is the story of Carman, a retired Toronto policeman and Norma, the cantankerous proprietor of a country junk-shop. Against the grain of their bad temper they create a precarious friendship.

"Duet is almost perfect . . ." -- Quill and Quire
"There's a dry humour in this story . . . it is moving and affectionate, flawless in realism and technique" -- Edmonton Journal
" . . . skill, unadorned honesty, and a clear-eyed understanding of the human quirks that rise out of fear, need, and ambivalence" -- Books in Canada

Written in 1998 after a trip to Paris and its museums, The Stand-In presents a series of three lectures given by a retired professor who is a last minute substitute for a dead man. He delights himself by teasing his audience with his knowledge and obsessions, hinting at his past, reflecting both astutely and eccentrically on various works of art. I'm not sure I've ever had so much fun writing a story.

"An oblique, eccentric and intriguing novella." -- amazon.ca
"A witty, eloquent and satirical impromptu." -- Toronto Star
"A comic gem." -- Douglas Glover

Winner of the Atlantic Poetry Prize for 2004

A long poem written over the year 2001, giving an account of the gradual changes of season, the thoughts and memories that came to mind as I observed them. Published in 2004, it catches at memories from my earliest days while also being a poem of reflection and a tribute to my friends. Each day of the year offered its own discoveries, the usual cycle of the seasons alongside the unique events of those particular hours.

"His gifts are, indeed, the sharp eye and quick ear that never tire the reader, despite the distance travelled . . . This is the assured accent of a poet maturely at ease in his voice and its scope . . . The Year One fluently and evocatively lights the way to live more keenly in the moment." -- Michael Thorpe, The New Brunswick Reader
"this book is significant, magnificent, and beneficent . . . " -- George Elliott Clarke

This chronicle of one woman and her time began with old stories about the rum-runners on Lake Ontario, told to me one summer afternoon as I barbecued hamburgers by the shore of Wolfe Island just opposite Kingston, Ontario. The book was composed with a deliberately elliptical rhythm that suggests questions about the shape of life, the shape of our stories. We only think we know what life is like.

"The Time of Her Life is a story of following possibilities, seeing how they work out, and eventually moving on, without too many regrets . . . Helwig is a splendid writer who shows us convincing scenes, an old house in the south of France or a small harbour on one of the Great Lakes. He conveys vividly the atmosphere of Paris just before, during and just after the Second World War. His characters seem real . . . He leaves out all the laborious transitions, just as a good film does. He observes rather than criticizing or explaining." -- The Charlottetown Guardian
"Helwig knows how to enchant." -- The Globe and Mail.