Line of Inquiry: David Chariandy

David Chariandy has explored ideas of dislocation and cultural memory as an academic at Simon Fraser University, but he now offers those ideas to a wider audience in his luminous first novel entitled Soucouyant (Arsenal Pulp).

Set in Ontario, the story focuses on the fraught and tender relationship between a Canadian-born son and his Trinidadian-born mother, a woman who is suffering from dementia and uncannily 'forgetting to forget' the traumatic secrets of her past. The soucouyant - an evil spirit in Caribbean folklore - stands as a symbol of how the legacies of 'elsewhere' continue to haunt the lives of those born here.

Chariandy lives in Vancouver.

1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time
spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

It’s a good question. I’m told that I do alright in front of an audience. And I’m a teacher as well as a writer, so I should be used to public speaking by now. But the truth is that I’m usually a bit uncomfortable when I have to read my work, even though, apparently, this rarely shows. I’ve found that my type of writing requires quite a lot of introspection, which doesn’t necessarily help when it’s time to perform. Still, I’m so deeply grateful when anyone is willing to listen to me. That is an enormous gift to a new writer.

2) What do you want people to know about Soucouyant?

It’s a book about the elsewhere past, and about what haunts us when we think we’ve moved beyond. It’s also a book about forgetting, about the fragility of memory, and about the impossible burden of history. Really, it’s just a book about a mother suffering from dementia, and a son who is conflicted about his responsibilities. It’s a book that I worked on very carefully over many, many drafts, since I felt I owed this to the themes and characters.

3) What are you looking forward to in Winnipeg?

Frankly, I’m looking forward to hearing other writers read. I get inspired by that, the ebb and pitch of words in the air. And this particular festival has gathered together so many extraordinarily writers, both mature and new. Also, just about every writer I know tells me that the audiences in Winnipeg are the most lively and enthusiastic in the nation. I feel both thrilled and humbled to be able to participate in the groove.

4) What are you reading right now?

Lots of stuff. I usually dip into several books at once. (The tower beside my bed is sometimes outright hazardous…) I’ve recently read the new Ondaatje, Vassanji, Gowdy, and Hill, and I’m looking forward to perusing other CanLit offerings of the year. I’ve also been trying to catch up on books published a year or two earlier, like The Law of Dreams and The View from Castle Rock. I’m also right now re-reading Delible by Anne Stone, which I can’t seem to get out of my head. I’m always reading a lot of poetry. Poetry feeds me in a way that’s absolutely essential, even though I’ve never attempted that most daunting and demanding art. So Moure, and Brand, and Brathwaite, and Walcott over and over again, as well as a bunch of newer voices. I’ve co-founded, with Wayde Compton and Karina Vernon, a very (very) modest press named Commodore Books, and I’m really hoping that we’ll get to publish, as our third book, the poetry of an emerging Winnipeg-based writer named Troy Bailey. His poetry is exceptionally interesting, but I think he has the same neurosis that I do – he’ll never stop working on a manuscript until someone physically wrests the thing away. Maybe I’ll try pulling a heist when I’m in town…

5) What can being longlisted/shortlisted/winning an award like the Giller Prize do for a book and/or for your career? How does it feel to be nominated?

I’m both thrilled and shocked. As I mentioned, I worked extremely hard on my book for a number of years. Eventually, after painstakingly studying the works of more experienced writers, after many, many drafts, and after considerable pain and self-doubt on my own part, I got the narrative and language of my short book into a form that satisfied me. But I assumed, for a variety of reasons, that it wouldn’t get much attention, and I was honestly OK with that. Now, I’m suddenly in the company of the very writers, like Michael Ondaatje, whose work inspired me so profoundly in the first place. It’s such a strange and wonderful experience. I can’t fully express how meaningful it has all been to me, how deeply grateful I am by the nod from the Giller judges, and by the subsequent attention from people who, otherwise, might never have heard of my book or else taken me seriously. But I also know who supported me right from the beginning: a small and “regional” press, an independent bookstore or two, and a community of readers and writers, of all backgrounds and degrees of fame, who have taught me to understand “literature” not as the product of a few stars, but as a wild democracy of voices.

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David Chariandy will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 28 - Writing through Race Panel, U of W, with Lawrence Hill and Paul Yee.
September 28 - Maintstage, with William Gibson, Lawrence Hill, Linda Leith, Brenda Hasiuk.

Line of Inquiry: Emily Pohl-Weary

Toronto author Emily Pohl-Weary grew up and still lives in the city's west end. Parkdale, a formerly elegant but now down and out neighbourhood, seeps into everything she writes.

She's currently writing a four-issue girl pirate comic (illustrated by Willow Dawson). Her young adult mystery novel, Strange Times at Western High, was published by Annick Press in the fall of 2006.

A slim collection of her poetry, Iron-On Constellations, was published in late 2005. In the fall of 2004, her first novel was released. A Girl Like Sugar is about a girl who's haunted by her dead rock star boyfriend. A critic called it "a candy kiss hiding barbed wire...as fun as eating a Ferrero Rocher."

1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

Honestly? I still get very nervous before stepping out from behind my computer to do a reading or speak in public. Usually the butterflies hit seconds before it's my turn to get up on stage, so I try to use the anxious energy to propel my performance. Sometimes it works, sometimes, well...ahem. The times it doesn't are when the audience probably gets a taste of the real me. But there's a certain adrenaline rush that comes from forcing yourself to do something out of your comfort zone. It's good to shake yourself up a little.

2) What do you want people to know about Strange Times at Western High?

Strange Times was my opportunity to rewrite my high school years. Ha ha. I was able to create an alter-ego named Natalie Fuentes - a fearless teen girl who doesn't really care about being popular, has more on her mind than boys and clothes (she self-publishes a zine), and doesn't falter in the face of peer pressure or threatening situations.

3) What are you looking forward to in Winnipeg?

I love visiting the galleries like Plug In and Mondragon Bookstore, so hopefully I'll have time to just wander around a bit. I'm also looking forward to checking out some of the other readings and seeing friends.

4) What are you reading right now?

Okay, I tried to stall on answering this question until I was reading something that's not too embarrassing. The sad thing is that time will never come.

I've got about five books on the go and none of them are exactly high-brow.

Open on my bedside table are: Tamora Pierce's Sandry's Book (Circle of Magic Book 1); Lynne Ewing's Goddess of the Night (Daughters of the Moon Book 1); Lauren Haney's A Curse of Silence (a mystery set in ancient Egypt); Francine Pascal's Starting Over (a Sweet Valley High novel); and Vikki Stark's My Sister, My Self: Understanding the Sibling Relationship That Shapes Our Lives, Our Loves, and Ourselves.

I've also been watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls for like the 4,000th time.

It's all "research." Right?

Right?


Emily Pohl-Weary will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 26 - School Stage, with Brendan McLeod.
September 27 - Campus Program, with Maureen Fergus.

Line of Inquiry: Dave Margoshes

The author of twelve books, including three novels, Dave Margoshes has had his work published in numerous magazines and anthologies throughout North America, including six times in the Best Canadian Stories volumes. Margoshes worked as a newspaper reporter in the US and Canada, and has taught journalism and creative writing. His writing has won a number of awards, including the City of Regina Writing Award, the John V. Hicks Award for Fiction and the Stephen Leacock Prize for Poetry. He lives in Regina.

1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

You're right, writing is an extremely solitary art form. Doing readings is a way of connecting with the audience that can be gratifying (also terrifying). It's also a way of test driving a piece of writing. I really like reading from something I've just written and gauging the response. With a book, which I'll be reading from at the festival, it's too late for that, of course.

2) What do you want people to know about Bix's Trumpet & Other Stories?

That's tough question. I want people to read it. OK, so I guess what I want people to know about it is that it's a good read.

3) What are you looking forward to in Winnipeg?

The festival, of course. I haven't been to it before, but I've heard good things about it. And I'll be glad to be back in Winnipeg, which I spent 9 months in in the mid-'90s as writer in residence. I enjoyed that time, and alway enjoy getting back.

4) What are you reading right now?

I just read Rebecca Lee's The City Is a Rising Tide - a stunning novel (she's a Canadian, living in the States) - and Pat Krause's wonderful memoir, Acts of Love. I'm now in the midst of former Winnipegger Terry Heath's Joe Fafard, a companion book to the sculptor's retrospective show that's opening in Regina soon and will be in Winnipeg in another year or so. It's excellent, and filled with great art.

Dave Margoshes will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 24 - Mainstage, with Gil Adamson, Shauna Singh Baldwin, Brian Henderson, Sidura Ludwig, and Jim Nason.
September 25 - Campus Program, with Pamela Banting.

Line of Inquiry: Brendan McLeod

Brendan McLeod has been the Vancouver poetry SLAM champion, the Canadian SLAM champion, and finished second at the 2005 World SLAM championships, held in Holland. Last year, his novel The Convictions of Leonard McKinley beat out over 500 original entries to win the International 3 Day Novel Contest. As both a solo performer and a musician with the spoken word/music troupe The Fugitives, he has performed at hundreds of literary readings in both Europe and North America. He has an MA in Philosophy from the University of Waterloo, and currently resides in Vancouver.


1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

I actually haven't spent very much time alone over the past couple of years. The Convictions of Leonard McKinley is my first book; prior to it I've been touring as both a spoken word artist and as a musician with the band, The Fugitives.

I really dig on performances and try to make them as interactive and engaging as possible. It has really been everything to me for the past few years - there is nothing quite like an amazing show (or a bad one). It puts me in moods of elation (or horror) for days afterwards.

2) What do you want people to know about your book The Convictions of Leonard McKinley?

It's the winner of last year's 3 Day Novel Contest. It is the result of inordinate amounts of caffeine and lack of sleep, but I'd love for people to give it a chance and read it.

It's a story about a boy named Leonard who grows from the age of 6-21 during the course of the novel (he was supposed to get older, but I ran out of time, whoops!).

Unlike most people who disregard their random crazy thoughts, such as "I should push this person into a bus", Leonard takes these thoughts seriously and tries to figure out where they're coming from. He's led into dark territory as he explores these facets of himself, but the book is set against a pretty light backdrop of coming of age in the Prairies, going to high school dances, trying out for the basketball team, etc.

3) What are you looking forward to in Winnipeg?

The crowd! Holy cow - the Fugitives did the Winnipeg Fringe Festival this year and were blown away by the enthusiasm of the Winnipeg audiences. You guys love your arts! In that way, it's easily one of the most inspiring cities I have ever toured through.

Plus, it won't be January, so it won't be cold.

4) What are you reading right now?

Peter Carey. The guy is insanely good! Each book has a completely different voice from the others. I don't know how he does it. I'm so jealous I want to steal his
brain.

I have also been digging on Mary Karr, both her memoirs and her poetry. Also, Lilli Thal, who wrote a YA book called Mimus. Wow, what a killer read!


Brendan McLeod will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 26 - Mainstage, with Maureen Fergus, Susan Juby, Alice Kuipers, Janice Kulyk Keefer.
September 26 - School Stage, with Emily Pohl-Weary.
September 27 - After Words