Overview

An activist priest provides sanctuary for an encampment of unhoused people in her churchyard The housing crisis plaguing major urban centres has sent countless people into the streets. In spring 2022, some of them found their way to the yard beside the Anglican church in Toronto's Kensington Market, where Maggie Helwig is the priest. They pitched tents, formed an encampment, and settled in. Known as an outspoken social justice activist, Helwig has spent the last three years getting to know the residents and fighting tooth and nail to allow them to stay, battling various authorities that want to clear the yard and keep the results of the housing crisis out of sight and out of mind. Encampment tells the story of Helwig's life-long activism as preparation for her fight to keep her churchyard open to people needing a home. More importantly, it introduces us to the Artist, to Jeff, and to Robin: their lives, their challenges, their humanity. It confronts our society's callousness in allowing so many to go unhoused and demands, by bringing their stories to the fore, that we begin to respond with compassion and grace.

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9781552455043

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Reviews

""The story is so well structured, the writing so elegant, that it manages to be enjoyable as well as moving."" - Sunday Telegraph on Between Mountains ""The depth of her understanding...fills this book with moving scenes and striking perceptions."" - The Globe and Mail on Between Mountains""Stellar...meticulous and poignant realism"" - The Montreal Gazette on Girls Fall Down""Prose of astonishing rhythm and precision...the real success of Girls Fall Down lies in its thematic scope, which is as broad as its geography is narrow. Since 9/11, countless novels have examined the complicated role fear plays in our lives. What makes Helwig's better than most is the depth and nuance of her dark vision."" - The Walrus on Girls Fall Down""Profound [and] assured...Despite the rawness of its themes, this novel is elegantly written, which is appropriate given its examination of the power of language to both hurt and heal"" - Literary Review on Between Mountains ""A rigorous tour of conscience."" - The Globe and Mail on Between Mountains ""[Helwig] has an expert ear for the music of the line, and for other kinds of music, too...Empathetic grief - part prayer, part keening - and brief moments of tenderness between human beings are what she shores up against the recursive horrors of the world."" - The Globe and Mail on One Building in the Earth

Author Information

Maggie Helwig (she/they) is a white settler in Tkaronto/Toronto, and is the author of fifteen books and chapbooks, most recently Girls Fall Down (Coach House, 2008), which was shortlisted for the Toronto Book Award, and was chosen as the One Book Toronto in 2012. Helwig is a long-time social justice activist, and also an Anglican priest, and has been the rector of the Church of St Stephen-in-the-Fields since 2013.

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