Richard Murray Vaughan (March 2, 1965 – October 2020)^[1] was a Canadian writer and artist.^[2]

Biography

Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Vaughan graduated from the creative writing program at the University of New Brunswick.^[3] He was playwright-in-residence at Toronto's Buddies in Bad Times from 1994-95, and published numerous works, including poetry, fiction, stage plays and journalism for Utne Reader, Xtra! and The Globe and Mail.^[4] He was openly gay.^[5]

His books included the poetry collections a selection of dazzling scarves (1996), Ruined Stars (2004), and Troubled: A Memoir in Poems (2008), the plays Camera, Woman (2001) and The Monster Trilogy (2003), and the novels A Quilted Heart (1998) and Spells (2003). His 2015 book Bright Eyed is a memoir of his struggles with insomnia.^[6]

In October 2020, he was reported missing in Fredericton, New Brunswick, where he was working as writer in residence at the University of New Brunswick.^[7] Vaughan was found dead by Fredericton Police on October 23, 2020.^[3]

Pervatory, an unfinished novel manuscript, was published in 2023.^[8]

Works

• The InCorrupt Tables (Wild East/Salamanca Chapbooks, 1992 (reprinted 1995), poetry)
• William Forrestali's (Muted) Cornucopia (Studio 21 Halifax, 1992, art catalogue)
• Beyond Bad Times (Snowapple Press, 1993, anthology)
• Expressions: Writing About Psychiatric Survival (Expressions Press, 1993, anthology)
• Shout and Speak Out Loud: Atlantic Canadians on Child Sexual Abuse (Wild East, 1993, anthology)
• Semiotext(e) CANADAS (Semiotext(e) Publications, 1994, anthology)
• Plush (Coach House Press, 1995, anthology)
• Symbiosis: The Clinic (Symbiosis Collective, 1995, art catalogue)
• The Last Word (Insomniac Press, 1995, anthology)
• a selection of dazzling scarves (ECW Press, 1996, poetry)
• DISCovering Authors: Canadian Series (Gale Research, 1996, CD Rom)
• Carnival: A Scream In High Park Reader (Insomniac Press, 1996, anthology)
• Painted, Tainted, Sainted by Sky Gilbert (PUC Press, 1996, introduction)
• Blues and True Concussions: 6 New Poets (House of Anansi, 1996, anthology)
• To Monsieur Desmoulins... (Tortoise Shell and Black, 1997, poetry chapbook)
• Gay Love Poetry (Robinson Publishing U.K. 1997, anthology)
• The Ecstatic Moment: The Best of Libido (Dell Books, 1997, anthology)
• 96 Tears (in my jeans) (Broken Jaw Press, 1998, poetry chapbook)
• A Quilted Heart (Insomniac Press, 1998, novel)
• Contra/Dictions: Queer Male Fiction (Arsenal Pulp Press, 1998, anthology).
• Written in the Skin (Insomniac Press, 1998, anthology)
• Rhubarb-O-Rama! (Blizzard Press, 1998, anthology of plays)
• Restless Requiem: Catherine Hale's Seductive Altars (Art Centre, University of New Brunswick Press, 1998, art catalogue)
• Invisible to Predators (ECW Press, 1999, poetry)
• Camera, Woman (2001, drama)
• Spells (2003, novel)
• The Monster Trilogy (2003, drama)
• Ruined Stars (2004, poetry)
• Troubled: A Memoir in Poems (2008, poetry)
• Compared to Hitler (Tightrope Books, 2013, selected essays)
• Bright Eyed (Coach House Press, 2015, memoir)
• Vaughan, R. M. (2018). One year after. New Brunswick chapbook series #6. Victoria, BC: Frog Hollow Press. ISBN 978-1-926948-62-1.
• Vaughan, R. M. (2019). Ve1xe. New Brunswick Chapbook Series #11. Victoria, BC: Frog Hollow Press. ISBN 9781926948843.
• Pervatory (Coach House Press, 2023, novel, published posthumously)