About Stephen Gauer

Stephen Gauer was born in Toronto in 1952.

In the 1970s and 1980s, he worked as a newspaper reporter for the Thompson Citizen, Barrie Examiner, Ottawa Journal and Toronto Globe and Mail. He's also made a living as a CBC clerk, a housepainter, a computer trainer, a computer consultant and a freelance writer.

In Vancouver in the 1990s, he ran Gauer Consulting, providing software training and consulting to legal clients.

Stephen's prize-winning short stories have been published in Descant, Prairie Fire, the Toronto Star, and Best Canadian Stories 10 (Oberon Press). His non-fiction has appeared in Geist magazine, and newspapers such as the Globe and Mail and Boston Globe.

His essay 'Giving away the body' will appear in Body Parts, to be published by Brindle & Glass in 2012.

He has a BA in Communications from Simon Fraser University (2001) and a MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia (2005).

Stephen lives in Toronto, where he makes a living as a contract technical writer. He also teaches writing at George Brown College.

Published work and awards

Fiction

Hold Me Now, novel (Freehand Books), 2011

 “Hold Me Now”, short story, in the anthology Best Canadian Stories 10 (Oberon Press) 2010

 “Hold Me Now”, short story, Prairie Fire, Summer 2009

 "The Man Who Ate Sunlight", short story, Toronto Star, July 12, 2009

 “Jumper”, short story, Prairie Fire, Summer 2006

 “A question of balance”, short story, Descant, Fall 2005

 “A is for Auschwitz”, short story, Toronto Star, July 17, 2005

 Non-fiction

“Giving Away the Body”, essay in the anthology In The Flesh (Brindle & Glass), 2012

 “Miami Beach Exile”, memoir, Geist, Summer 2003

 “What should we talk about now?”, memoir, Geist, Spring 2002

 “Ladder 25”, travel piece about Manhattan post-9/11, Geist, Winter 2001

 Playwrighting

“Down for the Count”, a two-act play, produced by the Kawartha Summer Theatre, Lindsay, Ontario, 1987

  Awards and prizes

2010 Manitoba Magazine Award for fiction, for “Hold Me Now” (published in Prairie Fire)

 2010 Western Magazine Awards, nominated for Best Fiction category for “Hold Me Now” (published in Prairie Fire)

 2009 Toronto Star Short Story Contest, third prize for "The Man Who Ate Sunlight"

 2009 Prairie Fire short fiction contest, first prize for “Hold Me Now”

 2007 Western Magazine Award for Fiction, for “Jumper”

 2006 PAGE International Screenwriting Awards, semifinalist for “Lost in Thought", a short screenplay

 2006 American Gem Short Screenplay Competition, honourable mention for “Lost In Thought”

 2006 Prairie Fire short fiction contest, first prize, for “Jumper”

 2005 BC Writers Federation Literary Writers short fiction contest, second prize, “Change Your Life”

 2005 Toronto Star Short Story Contest, second prize, for “A is for Auschwitz”

 2003 Western Magazine Award short list for best human interest article, “What should we talk about now?”, published in Geist

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