Instructions for the Drowning by Steven Heighton

A man recalls his father's advice on how to save a drowning person, but struggles when the time comes to use it. A wife's good deed leaves a couple vulnerable at the moment when they're most in need of securitythe birth of their first child. Newly in love, a man preoccupied by accounts of freak accidents is befallen by one himself. In stories about love and fear, idealisms and illusions, failures of muscle and mind and all the ways we try to care for one another, Steven Heighton'sInstructions for the Drowningis an indelible last collection by a writer working at the height of his powers. (From Biblioasis)

• The key to Steven Heighton's success as a Canadian poet and author is staying humble and true to the art
• The best Canadian fiction of 2023

Steven Heighton was an Ontario novelist, short story writer and poet.He received the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry forThe Waking Comes Late.His recent books includeReaching Mithymna: Among the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos, afinalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, andSelected Poems 1983-2020. In 2021, Heighton released his first album,The Devil's Share. Heightondied in April 2022.