Gwendolyn MacEwen
Gwendolyn Margaret MacEwen (1 September 1941 – 29 November 1987) was a Canadian poet and novelist. A "sophisticated, wide-ranging and thoughtful writer," she published more than 20 books in her 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. MacEwan's 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 in Toronto. then  the centre of a literary revival in Canada, encouraged by the editor Robert Weaver and influential teacher Northrop Frye. MacEwen was thus in touch with James Reaney, Margaret Atwood, Dennis Lee, etc. 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", in 1965 which featured music by Terry Rusling. 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, and 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. During the last years of her life she was in a relationship with street writer Crad Kilodney  (Lou Trifon). 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. A documentary film by Brenda Longfellow, "Shadow Maker: Gwendolyn MacEwen, Poet", was made in 1998 and won the Genie Award for Best  Short Documentary. Gwendolyn MacEwen Park. The former Walmer Road Park, in The Annex neighbourhood of Toronto, was renamed Gwendolyn MacEwen Park in her honor in 1994. On 9 September 2006, a bronze bust of MacEwen by her friend, sculptor John McCombe Reynolds, was unveiled in the park. The park had been a grassy traffic circle in the middle of Walmer Road at Lowther Avenue, but a $300,000 makeover in 2010, expanded the park and narrowed the surrounding roads. The unique redesigned greenspace reopened 21 July 2010, and writer Claudia Dey read one of MacEwen's poems.