link to Co-op Radio interview
Originally published, Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Here it is –
http://www.rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2009/08/english-stories
When They’re Good They’re. . . .
Originally published, Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Last Saturday I did an interview on Vancouver’s Co-op Radio, with Jane Williams. What a pleasure! Jane had read ALL of the book. She had useful ideas about which sections I might read, she let me know roughly what she’d want me to talk about, AND I was invited to suggest a question I’d really like to be asked. (I wanted to talk about the epigraph. for The English Stories.)Yes, just about ideal. When I think of the miserable sessions I’ve sat through with some alleged “hosts,” I’m very grateful.
Please note that Co-op Radio now creates podcasts of its interviews, which are available at rabble.ca — where of course there’s much more of interest too.
Right now in Vancouver it’s extremely hot — I feel as if I’m back in Ontario where I grew up! Soon enough though we’ll get back to “normal” West Coast weather, and the autumn is shaping up to be a busy time.
From Oct 21-25 I’m at the Vancouver International Writers’ Festival, and then head to Saskatchewan for readings, at the Vertigo Series in Regina on Oct 26 and at McNally Robinson Bookstore in Saskatoon on Oct 28. Back in BC, I’ll read at Vancouver Island University on Nov 10 and then at the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library on Nov 16. Other events are pending — hope to add to this list soon.
Co-op Radio
Originally published, Tuesday, July 7, 2009
On 25 July I’ll be talking with Jane Williams on Redeye, Co-op Radio’s
Saturday morning show, about “The English Stories.”
Co-op Radio is at 1`02.7 FM, and the interview starts at 11;10 am.
Do tune in!
On the Horizon
Originally published, July 7, 2009
A student asked this question, at a Langara College reading in June. “Do you think an aspiring writer would do best to get a degree in literature or in Creative Writing?”
This was never a choice for me, since no such thing as a BFA or MFA in Creative Writing existed during my own journey through the post-secondary system. However, four decades of writing and reading and teaching, since then, made it easy for me to say that I thought studying literature was best.
I’ve been thinking about this some more.
I do believe that nothing could be better for a beginner than to swim daily for several years in the intoxicating ocean of styles, forms, moods, modes, dictions, purposes, genres, and fashions that add up to A Literature. While doing so, the beginner can seriously consider models and preferences. And can have a total crush on some writer and turn out a ton of derivative junk. And may figure out why other writers cause nausea or boredom or envy. All that is part of discovering who this beginner is, as a writer, herself or himself.
Also, reading leads to a lot of unconscious learning about writing. For one thing, the reader’s vocabulary grows and grows. For another, someone who’s read widely across several centuries isn’t as likely to get messed up by tone or grammar or wordiness as someone who’s only familiar with today’s commonplaces on the page.
More on this another time, I’m sure.