September 23rd, 2011
What a magical night, and what an honour for Kingston. At our International Marquee, J.M. Coetzee and Paul Auster read from their correspondence, sharing their reflections on friendship and writing. It was a rich and fascinating discussion, but what made it feel so intimate and at the same time dramatic, was the epistolary form. It made me think again how close the essay is to the letter; how the best essays often feel like letters from a thoughtful friend. Both men are, of course, accomplished essayists and translators themselves, which probably helps—but there was something very moving in the leisurely pace of these letters. These were not quick notes or business memos (or, for that matter, blog posts). These were real letters; the kind that cast new light on the subject, on the author, and on the recipient all at once. What a pleasure.
Tags: Essays, Letters
Posted in Essays, Kingston WritersFest, Letters | 3 Comments »
September 21st, 2011
Once again it’s time for Kingston WritersFest, and a brilliant festival it will be! As web content editor I got to write profiles of many of the artists who will be visiting us, and what a wonderful way to get a sense of the variety and excitement the festival will offer. I’m looking forward to so many of these events.
Several, in particular, should appeal to lovers of nonfiction, including In Praise of Older Women, with Lorna Crozier, Molly Peacock, and Merrily Weisbord; and Great Scots, with Richard Gwyn, Vincent Lam, and Ken McGoogan. There are still tickets to these events available, but several others are sold out, and it would be wise to order in advance rather than hoping to get seats at the door.
On Thursday, I’m delighted to be moderating a discussion between young adult writers Adwoa Badoe and Y.S. Lee. Adwoa’s Between Sisters is a gripping realistic account of a young girl caught by temptations that her background has ill prepared her for, while Ying Lee’s The Agency series is a gender bending mystery-romance set in Victorian London. But if you think these books have nothing in common, you are wrong. Join us at 10:45 a.m., Thursday, September 25, at Kingston’s Holiday Inn Waterfront, to find out what I mean.
I will also be hosting several other events during the festival and will be onsite most of the time. Really looking forward to it.
Tags: Appearances, Kingston WritersFest
Posted in Appearances, Kingston WritersFest, Young Adult | No Comments »
September 11th, 2011
When my friend Kathy-Diane Leveille invited me to participate in the 50/50 project, Writers Who CARE, I jumped at the chance. Slated to launch at CARE INTERNATIONAL on October 1st, 2011, the 50/50 project will allow anyone who makes a donation of $50.00 to submit 50 pages double-spaced of a work-in-progress for a 1-2 page critique by one of the participating authors. All proceeds will go to a CARE fund for Somali refugees.
Read about Kathy’s inspiration for this project here.
If you are an emerging writer who would like a critique of your work with the knowledge that that your donation is going to a good cause, please consider signing up when the project opens! And if you are a published writer who would like to participate, please contact Kathy to find out if she can add your name to her list.
Tags: Writers Who Care
Posted in Good Causes | 1 Comment »
July 15th, 2011
From an interview with David Shields at TriQuarterly Online:
TQO: What advice do you have for new writers?
DS: Don’t be afraid of how you actually think, and write how you actually think. If you have a chance to be an interesting writer, then you will try to find a form that releases your best intelligence. Don’t just add more driftwood to this already established pile of wood. You can write another memoir, and of course your memoir will have its own stamp because yours will be set in Omaha instead of Lincoln. You’ll have your own story to tell. But it’s really just one more relatively formulaic work that’s not advancing the art. If you have a chance to produce interesting work, it will be the direct result of your willingness to face the unusual nature of your own intelligence. Find a form that embodies that.
Tags: Creative Nonfiction
Posted in Creative Nonfiction, Memorable Lines | No Comments »
July 9th, 2011
But You Have No Idea.
A Reading and Discussion with Sarah Leavitt at Novel Idea Books, Kingston
Wednesday, July 20, 6 pm
FREE.
Most readers will confess to mining the details of their favourite novels for evidence of the writer’s life. Switch out one gender for another, add ten years and relocate a character to another province or territory and we’re all but certain that the writer is talking about his or her first love, a parent, an old boss, maybe a child.
What, though, of the non-fiction writer and the memoirist? What of the people we’ve come to know only through a very focused view of their world? Do we take for granted that we know something about them? Do we as readers in a sense fictionalize non-fiction writers, creating heroes and, in some cases, villains? What do we really know of the non-fiction writer?
Please join Sarah and me as we read from our respective works and chat candidly about the figure of the nonfiction writer.
Tags: Appearances, Creative Nonfiction
Posted in Appearances, Creative Nonfiction, Memoir | No Comments »
