Archive for the ‘Women and Writing’ Category
Saturday, June 26th, 2010
A lovely and unexpected commendation from Nathalie Foy at Books on Books. (Unexpected because it occurs in the midst of her review of Sylvia Beach’s Shakespeare and Company.)
“One of my favourite books of the past year is Susan Olding’s Pathologies: A Life in Essays. She takes the personal essay to new places, puts it to interesting uses, gives it a fresh shape. It is Olding’s form that is so often the reward of reading her essays. They are fresh and startling and often biting. I like that.”
Thank you, Nathalie. And thank you also for the inspired decision to focus on books about books in your blog.
Tags: Blogs, Praise
Posted in Blogs, Essays, Memoir, Women and Writing | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 25th, 2010
How beautiful a London street is then, with its islands of light, and its long groves of darkness, and on one side of it perhaps some tree-sprinkled, grass-grown space where night is folding herself to sleep naturally, and, as one passes the iron railing, one hears those little cracklings and stirrings of leaf and twig which seem to suppose the silence of fields all round them, an owl hooting, and far away the rattle of a train in the valley. But this is London, we are reminded; high among the bare trees are hung oblong frames of reddish yellow light—windows; there are points of brilliance burning steadily like low stars—lamps; this empty ground, which holds the country in it and its peace, is only a London square, set about by offices and houses where at this hour fierce lights burn over maps, over documents, over desks where clerks sit turning with wetted forefinger the files of endless correspondences; or more suffusedly the firelight wavers and the lamplight falls upon the privacy of some drawing-room, its easy chairs, its papers, its china, its inlaid table, and the figure of a woman, accurately measuring out the precise number of spoons of tea which—She looks at the door as if she heard a ring downstairs and somebody asking, is she in?
—from “Street Haunting”
Tags: Memorable Lines, Women and Writing
Posted in Essayists, Essays, Memorable Lines, Women and Writing | 1 Comment »
Thursday, May 13th, 2010
A thoughtful post from biographer Julija Šukys on her blog Writing. Life. Thanks to Andrew Westoll for the link.
“It’s easy to sneer at the glut of memoirs of the past decade, and to discredit the genre as somehow dishonest or narcissistic, but autobiographical texts and personal essays that really work are always about something bigger than the person writing them.
The best first-person texts flirt with navel-gazing, but are redeemed by insight, artistry, self-criticism, and honesty. By telling a story about their own singular lives, skilled autobiographers and personal essayists inspire revelations. In other words, these texts not only reveal something about the person writing them, but also about the one reading them.”
Tags: Biography, Blogs, Essays, Memoir
Posted in Biography, Essays, Memoir, Women and Writing | 2 Comments »
Friday, April 30th, 2010
Several years ago, busy writers Shannon Cowan, Fiona Tinwei Lam, and Cathy Stonehouse joined forces to edit Double Lives: Writing and Motherhood. Although some questioned whether an audience existed for a book like this, their faith in the project never wavered, and they proved the doubters wrong. They talk here about the process of working collaboratively and editing an anthology of essays.
(from left) Fiona Tinwei Lam, Cathy Stonehouse, Shannon Cowan
Q: What sparked the idea for this anthology?
A: Cathy had just had her first child, and was struggling with trying to find time to write. As a writer/parent she wanted to read something other than how-to books that spoke to her experience. Something nonprescriptive, more descriptive and nuanced. She felt she and others would learn better that way—through the poetic and rich, rather than flat and often patronising self-help. As there was a dearth of material on the subject, she envisioned a project that would seek out the experiences of other women writers who had had children that could inspire other women in similar circumstances. We three already knew each other mostly through writing, and were exchanging parenting tips, so working on the project together arose naturally.
Q: Why did you choose an anthology of essays rather than poetry or fiction?
A: Nonfiction seems to speak more directly to our experiences as mothers, with real life events and experiences that readers can relate to. We considered various parameters (other art forms, other countries) but settled on these (creative non-fiction and Canadian) because they defined what we most hungered for. There were other fiction/poetry anthologies on this theme already. We wanted the writers to speak to the readers about their lived lives. Also, given how isolating both mothering and writing can be, we wanted readers to feel part of an ongoing, vibrant community, part of a continuum, irrespective of location, age, or circumstance.
Q: Does the essay genre offer something different to readers? If so, what?
A: It provides real life, honest, unembellished stories that readers can identify with. It provides well-written (and therefore nuanced, complex) versions of people’s realities that readers can return to over and over again. With essays, you can use novelistic techniques or weave in poetry (as some of our contributors did), but the overall effect is one of truth.
Q: Tell us something about the editing process.
A: A number of essays were extensively revised, and some were rewritten. There was a lengthy to and fro process between editor and writer prior to the review by the copy editor. We worked collaboratively on all aspects of the editing, which made the process time-consuming and complex but also rewarding. Having three editors review and edit each piece makes more work overall, but we had high standards and wanted the best deal for our writers. We did most of this work through email and after the kids were in bed. There were many late-night conference calls, because that was often the only time we were all available.
Q: What was the greatest challenge in getting this project off the ground?
A: Although the book didn’t take that long to place, we found ourselves convincing publishers/agents/editors that the project was worthwhile and had a market. There was a real misconception that the book’s readership would be a narrow one—yet when the manuscript came together, editors and reviewers alike chimed in that men, women, parents, and non-parents would all find something inspiring and captivating in the book. The writing spoke for itself, as we always knew it would.
Q: What has been the greatest reward, either in working on this book, or post-publication?
A: Knowing that many women across the country, of varying ages and at varying stages of their writing career, and even non-writers juggling children with work outside the home, have connected to the book, finding solace, wisdom, affirmation, support. We continue to receive many enthusiastic responses, whether in person or through others, and know that the book will have a long shelf-life.
Q: What advice might you offer to someone else who wanted to put together a collection like this?
A: A project like this is deceptively straightforward. It is truly a labour of love—quite time-consuming. (For us, it took us sometimes many hours every week, over about three years.) Personal writing projects might have to go on the back-burner. Tight deadlines can be almost impossible to deal with when one has young kids. Be prepared to work for virtually nothing and make sure you balance maintaining editorial control with finding a publisher earlier rather than later, so the work is not all for naught. Have faith in your writers.
Join Double Lives contributors and editors at:
Mother, Writer: Panel and Reading, Vancouver Public Library, May 5,
2010 at 7:30 pm
This Mother’s Day, celebrate the intersection of creation and
creativity with award-winning authors Catherine Owen, Rachel Rose, Luanne Armstrong, and Dorothy Woodend. Hosted by Cathy Stonehouse (Double Lives: Writers and Motherhood) and Cori Howard (Between Interruptions and The Momoir Project), this event will illuminate the rewards of nurturing children while pursuing the passion to write.
Wednesday, May 5, 7:30 p.m. Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level, Central
Library, 350 West Georgia Street. Admission is free.
Tags: Anthologies, Essays, Memoir, Women and Writing
Posted in Anthologies, Interviews, Memoir, Women and Writing | No Comments »
Thursday, March 18th, 2010
Mary Soderstrom’s The Walkable City: From Haussmann’s Boulevards to Jane Jacobs’ Streets and Beyond asks what makes a city “walkable” – and hence, liveable – and in an attempt to solve this riddle, takes the contrasting theories of two of the modern world’s greatest thinkers on the city and puts them to the practical test. An original idea, gracefully executed, The Walkable City compels us to think harder about our own neighbourhoods and what we expect and hope from them. I talked with Mary by email about this book and her latest projects.
Q: I loved the central conceit of The Walkable City: The great urban reconstructor, Baron Haussmann, and the independent urban thinker, Jane Jacobs, joined in a sort of ambulatory conversation with author and readers about what makes a city walkable – and, by extension, liveable. How did you hit on this idea?
A: Well, I guess I like mixed-media. What I mean by that is I write non-fiction using narrative techniques, and fiction with a strong dose of concrete observation. My two other non-fiction books (Recreating Eden: A Natural History of Botanical Gardens and Green City: People, Nature and Urban Places, both from Véhicule Press) use the device of taking the reader various places to consider aspects of the places in order to talk about history, science, philosophy, urban affairs and so on.
But been-there-done that: this time I didn’t want to do the same thing, and when I discovered that Haussmann had written extensive memoirs and that Jane Jacobs from early childhood held imaginary conversations with figures of the past, I began to wonder if I could take their own words and imagine what they might say to each other.
I’m glad you liked the idea, because I do too. But of all the aspects of the book, it is the one that has prompted the most criticism. Apparently you either love the conceit or you loathe it.
Q: The trope of the walk is a common one in the personal essay – as is the imaginary conversation with a respected (or despised) figure from the past. In that sense, The Walkable City is an extended essay, or an essayistic book. Thoughts?
A: That kind of categorizing doesn’t really interest me. The book is what I consider simply creative non-fiction. And that’s a very useful concept.
Q: The Walkable City is also an unusual sort of travel book, showing us sides of glamorous destinations, such as Paris, that we might not have known, and illuminating corners of our own front and back yards. How many kilometres do you think you walked, in researching the book?
A: Lots. I know that on my last trip to Paris where my cousin Cathy Retterer joined my husband and me for two weeks, one morning she said: “Okay, that’s enough. Do you think we could not walk four hours today?”
Q: How does this book build on or expand from your previous work?
A: The book is the direct outgrowth of my previous work. A lot of the traveling was undertaken for my other books. I went to Singapore and Paris originally for Recreating Eden, to East Africa for my novel The Violets of Usambara (Cormorant Book, 2008) and São Paulo, Brazil for Green City. Each of these projects led me deeper into reflection about the relation between humans and their surroundings, both natural and constructed. The Walkable City was the next step in trying to make sense of how we live, and how we ought to live.
Q: What was your biggest challenge in writing the book?
A: I think coming up with a narrative device that would carry the weight of my reflection. This is a book (like all my books) that is designed to entertain an intelligent reader while encouraging him or her to consider some pretty tough questions. A lot of research lies behind it, but I wanted to make it fun to read, so that ordinary folk—not just urban planning wonks – would find it interesting.
Q: What was the biggest joy?
A: Oh dear, oh dear! There were so many! Probably the realization that what I’d been living in Montreal and liking about some other cities all my life had a cause: their organization on a human scale based on what is called these days “active transportation.”
Q: What are you reading now?
A: La Traversée de la ville by Michel Tremblay (part three of his trilogy about his mother), The Mystery of Samba by Hermano Vianna (see below) and The Best American Short Stories of 2009 (not the best year, to my mind, which reflects more on the choice of the editor than the stories available for selection. Alice Sebold is the editor this time around, and her taste is not mine.)
Q: What’s your next project?
A: Well, there are two. One is a novel I’ve just sent to a possible publisher. It’s called River Music, and is about three generations of women: the grandmother is a pianist, the daughter is an engineer and the granddaughter is a harpsichordist. The time runs from 1935 to Dec. 6, 2009, and I hope in addition to a good story, the novel says something about North American women over the last 75 years.
The second, called Making Waves: The Portuguese Adventure, is a direct outgrowth of my three non-fiction projects, although it doesn’t seem so at first glance. During the travel I did for them and for Violets, I kept running into the footprints they left—in Brazil, of course, but also in East Africa, the West coast of India, and Singapore as well as other places. Then I began thinking about the Portuguese kids I grew up with in San Diego, whose families had come from the Azores and Madeira to fish tuna off California, the Portuguese sailing ship we saw in 1972 in St. John’s Newfoundland (one of the last of white fleet cod fishers) and the 40,000 people of Portuguese descent in Montreal. In short, I was bowled over by the worldwide legacy of this small nation on the edge of Europe.
A great deal of research and some more travel followed, and I’m now revising a manuscript for Véhicule Press which is scheduled to publish the book next fall. Although I picked up enough Portuguese on my own to be able to read newspapers, magazine articles and history, I ran into a wall, trying to speak it, so this winter I’ve been taking an intensive course at the Université de Montréal. So I’ll sign off, and get back to the oral presentation on Brazilian singer/songwriter/novelist/dissident Chico Buarque that’s due for Monday.
Mary Soderstrom is a Montreal-based writer of fiction and non-fiction. She is the author of three works of non-fiction, two short story collections, five novels and one children’s book. In addition over the years she has done a wide variety of reporting on science, urbanism, politics and writing.
Her most recent non-fiction book The Walkable City: From Haussmann’s Boulevards to Jane Jacobs’ Streets and Beyond is a follow-up to Green City: People, Nature and Urban Places (both from Véhicule Press) which was named one of The Globe and Mail’s Best 100 Books of 2007. Her most recent novel, The Violets of Usambara, which takes place in Burundi and Montreal, was published in Spring 2008 by Cormorant Books. Here’s her blog.
Tags: Creative Nonfiction, Interviews
Posted in Creative Nonfiction, Interviews, Women and Writing | No Comments »
