Biography

J.J. Steinfeld works in a variety of forms, including fiction (short-story and novel), plays, and poetry. Originally from Germany, he studied at Case Western Reserve University, and holds a Masters degree in History from Trent University. He moved to Charlottetown in the early 1980s and has lived there since. His writing has garnered a variety of awards, including the Norma Epstein Award (1979), the Okanagan Short Fiction Award (1984, 1990), and Great Canadian Novella Competition (1986), the Toronto Jewish Congress Book Committee Creative Writing Award (1990), and the Award of Distinguished Contribution to the Literary Arts on Prince Edward Island (2003). His playwriting has also won him awards from the Theatre Prince Edward Island Playwriting Competition many years running. His work has been anthologized on various continents. His many collections of short fiction include Dancing at the Club Holocaust (1993) and Anton Chekhov Was Never in Charlottetown (2000). Steinfeld published his first poetry collection, An Affection for Precipices, in 2006, and followed it up with the collection A Glass Shard and Memory in 2009. Although he is most prolific as a playwright and writer of short stories, Steinfeld also published two novels, Our Hero in the Cradle of Confederation (1987) and Word Burials (2009).

Bibliography

  • The Apostate’s Tattoo. Charlottetown: Ragweed Press, 1983.
  • Our Hero in the Cradle of Confederation. Porters Lake, NS: Pottersfield Press, 1987.
  • Forms of Captivity and Escape. Saskatoon, SK: Thistledown Press, 1988.
  • Unmapped Dreams. Montague, PE: Crossed Keys Publishing, 1989.
  • The Miraculous Hand and Other Stories. Charlottetown: Ragweed Press, 1991.
  • Dancing at the Club Holocaust. Charlottetown: Ragweed Press, 1993.
  • Disturbing Identities. Victoria, BC: Ekstasis Editions, 1997.
  • Should the Word Hell Be Capitalized? Wolfville, NS: Gaspereau Press, 1999.
  • Anton Chekhov Was Never in Charlottetown. Wolfville, NS: Gaspereau Press, 2000.
  • Curiosity to Satisfy and Fear to Placate. Montreal: Mercutio Press, 2003.
  • Existence Is a Hoax, a Woman in Fishnet Stockings Told Me When I Was Twenty. Niagara Falls: Cubicle Press, 2003.
  • Would You Hide Me? Kentville, NS: Gaspereau Press, 2003.
  • Not a Second More, Not a Second Less. Montreal: Mercutio Press, 2005.
  • An Affection for Precipices. Waterdown, ON: Serengeti Press, 2006.
  • A Glass Shard and Memory. Calgary: Recliner Books, 2010.
  • Misshapenness. Victoria, BC: Ekstasis Editions, 2009.
  • Word Burials. London, ON: Crossing Chaos Enigmatic Ink, 2009.
  • Where War Finds You. London, ON: HMS Press, 2008.
  • A Fanciful Geography. Liverpool, UK: erbacce-press, 2010.
Selected Overviews
Anton Chekhov Was Never in Charlottetown
Our Hero in the Cradle of Confederation

Click on selected overview to read...

Critical Sources

  • Bardolph, Jacqueline. “Parents & Children.” Rev. of Forms of Captivity and Escape, by J.J. Steinfeld. Canadian Literature 129 (1991): 169.
  • Bryson, Michael. “TDR Interview: J.J. Steinfeld.” The Danforth Review. <https://www.danforthreview.com/features/interviews/jj_steinfeld.htm>.
  • Greenstein, Michael. Rev. of Dancing at the Club Holocaust, by J.J. Steinfeld. Dalhousie Review 73.1 (1993): 97.
  • Metivier, Anthony. Rev. of Would You Hide Me?, by J.J. Steinfeld. The Danforth Review. <http://www.danforthreview.com/reviews/fiction/steinfeld.htm>.
  • Panofsky, Ruth. Rev. of The Miraculous Hand and Other Stories, by J.J. Steinfeld. Dalhousie Review 72.4 (1992): 566.
  • Ravvin, Norman. “Holocaust: Different Ways of Knowing.” Rev. of Dancing at the Club Holocaust, by J.J. Steinfeld. Canadian Literature 147 (1995): 188.
  • Shragge, Phyllis. “Lawyer Struggles with a Haunting Murder.” Rev. of The Golden Age of Monsters or, My Father Gave Me Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem for My Twentieth Birthday, by J.J. Steinfeld. Canadian Jewish News 33.23 (2003): 46.
  • Singer, Sandra. "Acting Out Justice in J.J. Steinfeld's 'Courtroom Dramas." Canadian Ethnic Studies 41.1/2 (2009): 155-72.
  • Rev. of Word Burials, by J.J. Steinfeld. Dalhousie Review 89.2 (2009): 270-72.
  • Rev. of A Glass Shard and Memory, by J.J. Steinfeld. Dalhousie Review 91.1 (2011): 133-36.
  • Whaley, Susan . “Histories.” Rev. of Our Hero in the Cradle of Confederation, by J.J. Steinfeld. Canadian Literature 126 (1990): 173.