The 28-year-old Scheier, who graduated from York in June, won the award for his debut book of poetry, More To Keep Us Warm (ECW Press, 2008), which explores the minefield of emotions following the death of a loved one, in this case a young man’s mother. It traces the process of falling in and out of love as well as the meaning of relationships, religion, beliefs and identity.

“It is a wonderful, but strange feeling,” says Scheier about the win. “Strange, because I didn't write this book for an award, I didn't even want to write the book at all…. It was a necessary act and so I never had, and imagine never will, have an opinion on how good it is. It satisfies me to know that some of the most accomplished writers in Canada felt that the book deserved this kind of honour. Knowing that what came out of me from necessity could have such a profound effect on people is a pretty incredible feeling.”

That necessity Scheier is referring to is the compulsion he felt to write following his mother’s death from breast cancer eight years ago. Scheier comes by his talent honestly. His mother, Libby Scheier, a well-known Toronto poet, was the author of four poetry collections and a book of short stories. She taught creative writing at York and was the Toronto Star’s poetry editor. “I imagine poetry would have remained a hobby for me and I would have done something quite different with my life had my mother not died,” he says. "The poems came out of thinking, feeling, being in my grief – or some of the poems anyway.” As he wrote, the questions became increasingly difficult to answer.

Scheier was the surprise winner of the GG Award for Poetry, winning over more seasoned poets for the prize – Weyman Chan for Noise from the Laundry (Talonbooks), A.F. Moritz for The Sentinel (House of Anansi Press), Sachiko Murakami for The Invisibility Exhibit (Talonbooks) and Ruth Roach Pierson for Aide-Mémoire (BuschekBooks).

The Governor General’s Literary Award for Poetry jurors – Di Brandt, Pier Giorgio Di Cicco and Connie Fife – say Scheier’s poems invite “the reader into a world of hope, pain, laughter and forgiveness – elements that reconcile the human drama through the power of love and sheer poetic invention. With deep affection for his work, Jacob Scheier manages his debut collection with precision, grace and stunning metaphor.”

Scheier is living in New York currently and working on a series of poems about what he calls his American-Jewish politically radical heritage. “My grandfather was a member of the Communist Party and my parents were Trotskyites; all of which occurred in New York City for the most part.”

He was the youngest person this year to win a GG Award, which comes with a $25,000 cash prize. The Governor General’s Literary Awards will be presented to the winners on Dec. 10 at Rideau Hall in Ottawa by the Governor General of Canada Michaëlle Jean. The Awards, funded and administered by the Canada Council for the Arts, are Canada’s oldest for English- and French-language Canadian literature.

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