First apprenticed to drummers (Douglas & LaRose), Heslop (b. 1992) released a poetry debut hailed as "among the most promising poetic projects to come out of Canada in recent years" (Johnstone), a "sublime poetic debut" (Lockhart) "read with admiration" (Coetzee), "a gestalt of what it can assimilate" (Crymble) "bursting from the pages in an oceanic radicalization of empathy, grief and utter fucking joy in livingness and language" (Bennett) "no poetry lover should be without" (Paré).

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      With scholarships from the University of Western Ontario to study Shakespeare in Stratford, Ontario and Stratford-upon-Avon, Heslop supplemented his education by interviewing dozens of visiting poets, organizing local open mics, writing criticism for the student daily, and appearing in local theatre productions (as Creon in Sophocles' Antigone, Katherine Minola in Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew, and Rabbi Saul Mortera in David Ives' New Jerusalem) before leaving Western® without a degree to practice the arts full time.

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      Municipal, provincial, and federal arts councils granted Heslop the six-figure means to cast, direct, and produce thirteen short films; publish poetry, flash fiction, screenplay, monologues, dialogues, and art criticism with ten dozen outlets in print, on radio, and online; curate and fund a local, collaborative, literary and creative arts event-series; exhibit three duo art shows; and win prizes with The League of Canadian Poets, half a dozen journals, and some twenty film festivals around the world.

 

       Heslop lived in ten artist residencies on four continents during this period, recording three books of dialogue—The Writing on the Wind’s Wall: Dialogues about 'Medical Assistance in Dying'; and Craft, Consciousness: Dialogues about the Arts (Volumes One and Two), forthcoming in 2026, 2027, and 2028 with Guernica Editions (founded in Montréal, 1978, “to publish books that address social justice issues, discover and cultivate our innate humanity, and transcend individual cultures and nations”)—and two poetry collections, a reminder: mother nature is the artist; you are just the cook (Cactus Press, 2026) and here lies the refugee breather who drank a bowl of elsewhere (Biblioasis, 2027).​​

 

      In 2025, Heslop made his home while in residence with Teat(r)o Oficina in São Paulo, Brazil, training under Mateus Filellini (a black belt under Rodrigo Tiepo of Rolling Jiu-Jitsu Academy), Dr. Marcelo Guimarães Lima of the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts, and Mário Henrique of the Maharishi European Research University, releasing new works with Centre[3] for Artistic and Social Practice, The Fiddlehead, The Miramichi Reader, Modern Haiku Press, Parrot Talks, The Seaboard Review, and Sunbury Shores, and quietly executing contracts on six books, a feature film, and a television series.

 

      In harmony with his work in the arts and culture, as a creative consultant and venture capitalist Heslop supports select companies (like Revolve Surgical) driven to reduce suffering. He served from the Board of Changing Ways for seven years and currently serves from the League of Canadian Poets, the New Brunswick Filmmakers' Co-op, and the Writers' Union of Canada.