Steven Heighton is a novelist, short story writer and poet. He debuted in 1989 with Stalin's Carnival, a poetry collection that earned him the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. This was followed by a spot on the shortlist of the 1995 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry for The Ecstasy of Skeptics. He received the 2016 Governor General's Literary Award for poetry for The Waking Comes Late. His most recent books are Reaching Mithymna: Among the Volunteers and Refugees on Lesvos, a finalist for the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction, and Selected Poems 1983-2020. His stories and poems have appeared in Granta, the LRB, Best American Poetry, Tin House, Brick, Poetry, The Walrus and many editions of Best Canadian Stories and Best Canadian Poetry.

In 2021 Heighton released his first album, The Devil's Share, with Wolfe Island Records/CRS Europe.