Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
Today I’m the guest blogger at Canadian Bookshelf, the “the one-of-a-kind resource for discovering, discussing, and indulging in Canadian books.”
An excerpt:
Pity the essay—so undervalued that nobody recognizes it. We pass it by without a nod, or imagine we see it in a dozen other faces. “Ah, there you are! I’ve been looking for you! We must catch up,” we say, pumping a hand or slapping a rounded shoulder, all the while checking our watch in anticipation of our next appointment. Nobody wants to read the essay. Nobody wants to buy it. It’s so unpopular that in the 2012 Canada Reads—the first nonfiction edition ever—books of essays are explicitly ruled out.
Read more.
Tags: Canadian Bookshelf, Essayists, Essays
Posted in Blogs, Essayists, Essays | 4 Comments »
Monday, May 16th, 2011
The thoughtful and insightful Julija Sukys interviews me today on her blog. Thanks, Julija, for the opportunity to chat with you.
Tags: Blogs, Essayists, Essays, Interviews
Posted in Blogs, Classic Essays, Essayists, Essays, Ethical issues, Memoir, Women and Writing | No Comments »
Thursday, May 5th, 2011
Here’s a great piece in the Guardian Books blog. Thank you, Lucasta Miller. Thank you, Montaigne.
Speaking of which, check out the March 13 edition of Writers and Company, where Eleanor Wachtel interviews Sarah Bakewell, author of How to Live, the first full biography of Montaigne in English in almost fifty years.
Tags: Essayists, Essays
Posted in Blogs, Essayists, Essays, Interviews | 1 Comment »
Thursday, April 14th, 2011
I just got a surprising message from Kathy Graybeal, from the State of Delaware’s Division of Libraries. My essay “Library Haunting” is featured today on their blog! I’m honoured (or should I say honored?) and delighted. Thanks to The New Quarterly, who published it first, and to the Utne Reader, for picking it up. And thanks to Kathy and the other Delaware librarians who saw fit to feature it!
Tags: Blogs, Essays
Posted in Blogs, Creative Nonfiction, Essays | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010
I’m proud to say that an essay of mine, “Library Haunting” has placed in The New Quarterly’s first essay contest, named in honour of Edna Staebler. You can find it in the latest issue, along with first place winner Theresa Kishkan’s magnificent piece. It’s called “Arbutus menziesii: The make-up secrets of the Byzantine Madonnas,” and if that doesn’t pique your interest, you’re crazy. Her essay is beautiful, thoughtful, surprising, and deep—everything an essay ought to be. You’ll also find a fresh, funny, and honest piece on early motherhood by Kerry Clare, whose reviews and interviews with authors I’ve been following with interest for some time. It’s an honour to appear here with both of them.
The entire issue is packed with great stuff, including prize-winning poems by Jeanette Lynes, Patricia Young, and Kerry Ryan, fiction by Isabel Huggan, Holley Rubinsky, and Jessica Westhead, a reminiscence by the wonderful Sarah Selecky, an introduction to A.J. Somerset, winner of this year’s Metcalf Rooke award, and a series of amazing portraits of writers by Alan Drayton.
I was fortunate enough to win the inaugural Edna Staebler prize from TNQ in 2008. Then, it was not a contest; instead, judges chose from a selection of nonfiction published in the journal during the previous year. So the prize came as a total shock.
It was just before Christmas, a Friday evening, and I was sitting down to supper with my family, when the doorbell rang. With some irritation (imagining it was somebody soliciting for something or other) I went to answer. The mailman handed me a package. I looked at the return address and wondered why in heaven’s name Kim Jernigan would be sending me something at this time of year. I was pretty sure I had already received my issue of the magazine, and besides, this was heavier.
I opened it up to find two cookbooks by Edna Staebler. Two cookbooks that my mother’s friends had used back in the 80s. What the heck?
And then I found the envelope. In it, the most generous letter imaginable from Kim, generous words from that year’s judge, Elizabeth Ruth, and an even more generous cheque.
What better Christmas gift, for a writer?
Thank you, again, New Quarterly, for the continuously evolving gift of new and exciting writing.
Tags: Awards, Essays, Journals, The New Quarterly
Posted in Awards, Blogs, Creative Nonfiction, Essays | 2 Comments »
