Sydney Hegele Explained

Sydney Hegele (formerly known as Sydney Warner Brooman) is a Canadian writer,^[1]

Early life and education

Originally from Grimsby, Ontario, Hegele attended the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario and is currently based in Toronto.^[1] They identify as queer and use gender-neutral pronouns.^[1]

Writing career

Hegele's debut short story collection, The Pump, was published in 2021.^[2]

The Pump, a volume of interrelated short stories about outsiders living in a small town in Southern Ontario, was compared to the Southern Ontario Gothic style of writers such as Alice Munro.^[2] The book was the winner of the 2022 ReLit Award for short fiction,^[3] and was shortlisted for the 2022 Trillium Book Awards for English fiction.^[4]

The book was also selected by CBC Books in 2022 as part of a Pride Month reading list of books by LGBTQ Canadian writers.^[5]

Hegele has two forthcoming books with Invisible Publishing.^[6] Their Novel Bird Suit will be published in May 2024, and their essay collection Bad Kids, edited by author Alicia Elliot, is forthcoming in 2025.

Selected works

Essays

• "The Great Iconoclast", EVENT Magazine, 2023^[7]
• "Reading Stephen King’s ‘It’ As a Child Confused My Sense of Justice", Catapult Magazine, November 2022'^[8]
• "I Can’t Separate My Writing and My Diagnosis, So I Use Them to Help One Another", Electric Literature, August 2022^[9]
• "I Thought I’d Never Find Love After My Dissociative Identity Disorder Diagnosis", Catapult Magazine, July 2022^[10]

Short stories

• "Dirt Mouth", Room Magazine, July 2023^[11]
• "Mal Aux Dents (Or Toothache)", American Chordata, 2020^[12]

Poetry

• The Last Thing I Will See Before I Die, 845 Press, 2022^[13]

Awards

• ReLit Award for Short Fiction for The Pump (2022)
• Finalist for the Trillium Book Award for The Pump, English Fiction (2022)

Notes and References

1. James M. Fisher, "The Sydney Warner Brooman Interview". The Miramichi Reader, October 25, 2021.
2. Steven W. Beattie, "Small-town Ontario has a new chronicler in debut author Sydney Warner Brooman’s new book ‘The Pump’". Toronto Star, September 2, 2021.
3. News: Toronto author Sydney Hegele wins 2022 ReLit Award for short fiction collection The Pump . 31 July 2023 . . May 13, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221118000502/https://www.cbc.ca/books/toronto-author-sydney-hegele-wins-2022-relit-award-for-short-fiction-collection-the-pump-1.6451491 . Nov 18, 2022 . en.
4. News: Sadaf . Ahsan . Gothic stories, genre-defying memoirs among Trillium Book Award finalists . live . May 10, 2022 . 2023-07-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230729081305/https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/books/gothic-stories-genre-defying-memoirs-among-trillium-book-award-finalists/article_7af1c53a-814a-584c-9bfa-ff76272ace09.html . en . 29 July 2023 . Toronto Star.
5. https://www.cbc.ca/books/26-canadian-books-to-read-for-pride-month-1.6479109 "26 Canadian books to read for Pride Month"
6. Web site: About . sydneyhegele.com . 2023-07-17.
7. Notes on Writing Issue . . en . 2 August 2023 . 51 . 3 . limited.
8. Reading Stephen King's 'It' As a Child Confused My Sense of Justice . Catapult Magazine . 30 July 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230717143308/https://catapult.co/stories/sydney-hegele-stephen-king-it-pennywise-kleptomania-dissociative-identity-disorder . Jul 17, 2023 . en . 17 October 2022 . live.
9. I Can't Separate My Writing and My Diagnosis, So I Use Them to Help One Another . . live . Jul 24, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230724062641/https://electricliterature.com/dissociative-identity-disorder-writing-craft-sydney-hegele/ . en . 5 August 2023 . Aug 4, 2022.
10. I Thought I'd Never Find Love After My Dissociative Identity Disorder Diagnosis . Catapult Magazine . live . Jul 17, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230717143309/https://catapult.co/stories/sydney-hegele-finding-love-dissociative-identity-disorder-diagnosis-mental-health . en . 5 August 2023 . Jul 19, 2022.
11. Ley Line. . live . Jul 17, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230717143307/https://roommagazine.com/shop/ley-line/ . en . 4 August 2023 .
12. live . American Chordata . . 3 August 2023 . 10 . Fall 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230717143310/https://www.stackmagazines.com/product/american-chordata-issue-10/ . Jul 17, 2023 . en.
13. Web site: Parker . Fawn . Fawn Parker . Berkel . Jenny . The Last Thing I Will See Before I Die . www.thetemzreview.com . 1 August 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230717143306/https://www.thetemzreview.com/2022-chapbooks.html . Jul 17, 2023 . en . live.