Jason Heroux

{{Short description|Canadian poet}}

Jason Heroux (born 1971){{cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/861276340 |title=Good Evening, Central Laundromat |via=worldcat.org |oclc=861276340 |access-date=16 May 2022}} is a Canadian poet. He is the third poet laureate of the city of Kingston, Ontario, Canada, a position to which he was appointed in 2018.{{cite web |url=https://kingstonherald.com/release/jason-heroux-poet-laureate-2010323875 |title=City of Kingston Announces Jason Heroux as New Poet Laureate |website=kingstonherald.com |date=30 November 2018 |access-date=16 May 2022}} He is the author of four books of poetry and three novels;{{cite web |url=https://www.cityofkingston.ca/explore/culture-history/arts/poet-laureate |title=Poet Laureate |website=cityofkingston.ca |access-date=16 May 2022}} his works have been translated into French, Italian, and Arabic.{{cite web |url=https://poetrylondon.ca/jason-heroux/ |title=Jason Heroux |website=poetrylondon.ca |access-date=16 May 2022}} He was born in Montreal, and has lived in Kingston since 1990.{{cite web |url=https://kingstonherald.com/release/jason-heroux-poet-laureate-2010323875 |title=City of Kingston Announces Jason Heroux as New Poet Laureate |website=kingstonherald.com |date=30 November 2018 |access-date=16 May 2022}} He has described his writing as "the surrealism of the everyday",{{cite web |url=https://www.thewhig.com/2013/01/03/surrealism-of-the-everyday |title=Surrealism of the Everyday |website=thewhig.com |accessdate=13 August 2022}} a characterization elaborated on by Christopher Doda, who writes that Heroux's poems "contain a keen sense of the uncanny, the moment where the commonplace becomes unsettling, when one's comfortable surroundings become a landscape of disquietude."{{cite web |url=http://www.brickbooks.ca/week-41-jason-heroux-presented-by-christopher-doda/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160112082603/http://www.brickbooks.ca/week-41-jason-heroux-presented-by-christopher-doda/ |title=Week 41: Jason Heroux Presented by Christopher Doda |archivedate=12 January 2016 |accessdate=15 August 2022}} Poems of his were selected for Best Canadian Poetry in English in 2008, 2011, and 2016.{{cite web |url=https://kingstonherald.com/release/jason-heroux-poet-laureate-2010323875 |title=City of Kingston Announces Jason Heroux as New Poet Laureate |website=kingstonherald.com |date=30 November 2018 |access-date=16 May 2022}} His first poetry collection, Memoirs of an Alias, was called "an amazing debut" by a reviewer in Books in Canada;{{cite web |url=http://www.booksincanada.com/article_view.asp?id=4455 |title=Eyes Wide Open |website=booksincanada.com |accessdate=13 August 2022}} his 2012 collection Natural Capital was described as "a helluva good read" by a review in Arc Poetry Magazine, which concluded, "I'd give it several major prizes all at once."{{cite web |url=https://arcpoetry.ca/2013/11/07/boiling-joy-jason-herouxs-natural-capital/ |title=Boiling Joy: Jason Heroux's Natural Capital |website=arcpoetry.ca |accessdate=13 August 2022}} Heroux's novel Good Evening, Central Laundromat was shortlisted for the 2011 ReLit Awards,{{cite web |url=https://quillandquire.com/awards/2011/08/26/2011-relit-shortlists-announced/ |title=2011 ReLit Shortlists Announced |website=qillandquire.com |date=26 August 2011 |accessdate=13 August 2022}} and his poetry collection Natural Capital was shortlisted for the 2013 ReLit Awards.{{cite web |url=https://quillandquire.com/awards/2013/11/25/relit-awards-announces-2013-shortlists/ |title=ReLit Awards Announces 2013 Shortlists |website=quillandquire.com |date=25 November 2013 |accessdate=13 August 2022}}