Award-winning writer, co-founder of Turnstone Press dies

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This article was published 16/09/2014 (4095 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg writer Wayne Tefs passed away Monday morning after a lengthy illness. He was 66 years old.

Between 1983 and 2012 Tefs published 13 books, mostly fiction, including Figures on a Wharf (1983), Red Rock (1997), 4×4 (2004), Bandit (2011) and On the Fly (2012). Bandit earned five nominations at the 2012 Manitoba Book Awards, while his 2007 novel Be Wolf was awarded the McNally Robinson Book of the Year Award at the 2008 event.

In 1976, Tefs co-founded local literary imprint Turnstone Press, serving as its fiction editor for many years. The publisher has helped launch the careers of writers such as Margaret Sweatman, Di Brandt, and more. He also taught English at St. John’s-Ravenscourt’s from 1978 to 1992.

Born in 1947, Tefs was diagnosed with carcinoid syndrome, a rare illness, in 1994. He chronicled his experiences living and battling with the disease in 2002’s Rollercoaster: A Cancer Journey. Tefs was also a longtime book reviewer for the Winnipeg Free Press.

Barker, Tefs’ latest novel, is slated to be published this fall by Turnstone Press.