sean o huigin facts for kids

John Higgins (born on June 27, 1942), also known as sean o huigin, is a Canadian poet and writer. He started teaching poetry in the early 1960s. Later, in the late 1970s, he began writing his own works.

From the 1980s to the 1990s, o huigin mostly wrote poetry for children. His book, The Ghost Horse of the Mounties, won a special award in 1983. It was called the Canada Council Children's Literature Prize. This book was the first poetry collection ever to win this important award. In 1986, his poem "Acid Rain" was even turned into a short film by the National Film Board of Canada.

Who is sean o huigin?

John Higgins was born in Brampton, Ontario, Canada, on June 27, 1942. He later changed his name to "sean o huigin." This is the Irish language version of his name, written in all small letters. He did this to honor another writer, Padraig O Broin.

In the early 1960s, o huigin started using a unique style called sound poetry. He taught this to schoolchildren in North America and Great Britain. He began writing his own books in the late 1970s. During the 1980s and 1990s, he focused on writing poems for kids. Many of these were published by Black Moss Press.

Awards and Famous Works

One of o huigin's most famous books is The Ghost Horse of the Mounties. This book won the 1983 Canada Council Children's Literature Prize for English literature. It was a big deal because it was the first time a book of poetry won this award.

His poem "Acid Rain" was first published in a book called Scary Poems for Rotten Kids. In 1986, this poem became a short film made by the National Film Board of Canada. The book Scary Poems for Rotten Kids was re-released in 1988 with new pictures by Scott Hughes and John Fraser. The next year, o huigin released a collection of ten poems called Monsters He Mumbled. This book included two of his earlier works. In the 1990s, he wrote more books like King of the Birds (1992) and A Dozen Million Spills and Other Disasters (1993).

What are sean o huigin's Writing Styles?

When writing for children, o huigin often uses short lines in his poems. He writes about topics that might seem a little scary. He also uses very few capital letters or punctuation marks in his poems.

For his book Blink: A Strange Book for Children, o huigin used a special layout. He split the text into two columns that went down the page. This was to match the poem's idea of seeing different things with each eye.

He also used other interesting writing styles:

• In King of the Birds, he used a pourquoi story style. This means the story explains "why" something is the way it is.
• For Atmosfear, he used didacticism. This means the book aimed to teach a lesson or moral.

Some of his stories are based on real events or places. For example, The Ghost Horse of the Mounties was inspired by frightened horses owned by the North-West Mounted Police. This happened during a big storm in Manitoba in 1874. He also wrote two books about a real stray dog named Pickles, who lived in Windsor, Ontario.