In Stalin's Carnival, Heighton explores the transformation of Josef Stalin from romantic and political poet to notorious dictator with chilling results. In this finely-crafted collection, the resilient lyrical voice is presented as a means of survival in a time of violence. Heighton recreates a world and a time that feels as vital and immediate to us today as it was over a century ago. Winner of the Gerald Lampert Award in 1990, this reissue has been edited by Heighton and includes a foreword by Ken Babstock.

Steven Heighton's profile page

Steven Heighton has been described by Al Purdy as “one of the best writers of his generation, maybe the best.” His poetry books include Patient Frame, The Address Book, The Ecstasy of Skeptics, and Foreign Ghosts. His work has been internationally anthologized, translated into nine languages, and nominated for the Governor General's Award, the Trillium Award, a Pushcart Prize, the Journey Prize, and Britain's W.H. Smith Award. He has received the Air Canada Prize, the Gerald Lampert Award, Gold Medals for fiction and for poetry in the National Magazine Awards, and the Petra Kenney Prize. Heighton has taught fiction and poetry at the May Studios in Banff and the Booming Ground workshop at UBC, and has been writer in residence at Concordia University and Massey College at the University of Toronto.