Maggie Burton is a writer and musician from Brigus, Newfoundland and Labrador. She is the author of one book of poetry, Chores (Breakwater Books, 2023), and one book of short fiction, A Temporary Grace (Breakwater Books, 2026). Burton holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Memorial University (class of 2013) where she is currently studying in the Doctor of Medicine program (class of 2029).

Burton spent much of her early career playing violin with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra and teaching with the Suzuki Talent Education Program. Some of her favourite musical collaborations to date have with the St. John’s New Music Collective, Door Lock, and AE Bridger.

Burton lives in St. John’s where she is raising her four young children, Jack McGee, Ursula McGee, Edith Collins, and Ada Collins, with her partner, Michael Collins, and co-parent Christopher McGee. From 2017-2025, Burton served as a Councillor at Large for the City of St. John’s where she lead the Planning portfolio and served on the St. John’s Transportation Commission.

In 2024, the Griffin Poetry Prize awarded Chores the Canadian First Book Prize. Burton is a Canadian Griffin Poetry Prize Fellow (2025) with the Civitella Ranieri Foundation which included a six-week writing residency in Umbria, Italy.

Chores was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award and the E. J. Pratt Family Poetry Prize, and received a silver medal from the Independent Publisher Book Awards. Burton’s poetry has been published in Prism, The Malahat Review, Room, CV2, and elsewhere. Recent fiction can be found in The Fiddlehead and Riddle Fence. Her short story “The Rat” was recognized with an honourable mention in the Montreal Fiction Prize.

Through her writing, Burton explores the psycho-social and physical realities surrounding women’s domestic labour, sexuality, and relationships through a queer, feminist, working class lens. She is currently working on a second manuscript of poetry, Black Holes in Heat, which was awarded a Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council grant in 2024, and a debut novel, Shifting, which was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts grant in 2025.