Robert Earl Stewart, poet

Robert Earl Stewart is a writer, poet, photographer and former reporter for The Windsor Star. Robert Earl Stewart’s first collection of poetry published in 2009, Something BurnedRobert Earl Stewart, poet Along the Southern Border (Mansfield Press), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award. His poems have been published in journals in Canada, the U.S., and Great Britain. In 2010, he received the Windsor Endowment for the Arts’ grant for Emerging Artist in Literary Arts.

Having grown up in Windsor, Robert received a B.A in English from the University of Windsor and an M.A in English from McGill University in Montreal, where he also assisted in teaching 20th Century American fiction. In the spring of 1999, he returned to Windsor to work as the editor of a sports newspaper. Later, he spent two years as a reporter and photographer for The Windsor Star.

Robert spent several years in newspapers, including a long stint as the editor of local paper at a time of profound change as the industry moved from print to digital media. He has also worked as the marketing director for a live arts theatre, and owned and operated illuminati Freelance Concern, a one-man for hire including journalism, editing, photography and private investigation.

In May of 2011, his poetry collection, Campfire Radio Rhapsody, was published as a follow-up to his acclaimed, Lampert Award nominated debut, Something Burned Along the Southern Border. Campfire Radio Rhapsody features shadowy trains, a cab-driving opera singer, a multi-armed mollusk, and a mass exodus of clowns.

Although known for his poetry, Robert started writing fiction first. He had been the singer and lyricist in a rock band called Elephant, but when the group disbanded in 1994, he did not write poetry for another 10 years. While living in the McGill Ghetto in Montreal, he started writing short stories—and wrote a few others over the next few years. Poetry arrived in a big, inspired rush on Aug. 8, 2004 with the poem, “The History of Baseball”, published a few months later in a journal out of Texas called Blank Magazine.

In November of 2012, Robert Earl Stewart left a cardiologist’s office terrified of dying. He was 38 years old and weighed 368 pounds. His latest work, “The Running-Shaped Hole”, is due to be published May 7, 2019. Not so much an instructional manual on how to run, but a humorous meditation on what not to do, The Running-Shaped Hole examines how running affected Stewart as a husband, father, recovered alcoholic, journalist, bookseller, and writer, following him through various adventures, injuries, and spiritual epiphanies had while running. Robert is also the lead singer of the band Waker Glass, and lives in Windsor with his wife and their three children. He is working on a novel.

Sources:

September 13-19, 2004: Robert Earl Stewart and Cynthia Atkins

12 or 20 questions: with Robert Earl Stewart

Campfire Radio Rhapsody

The Running-Shaped Hole

This Windsor man made a life changing transformation, after taking a walk

Robert Earl Stewart: Writing, Running, Poetry, and the Rise and Fall of the RPWA