On Fiction, Nonfiction and Femininity

New reviews, new projects

28 March 2012

Check out the March edition of the Quill and Quire which has a review of Grace Shiver in it, as well as the March edition of the Literary Review of Canada, which features a lengthy and wonderful review of Animal. The latter may be available online eventually, but for now you need to find the print edition.

Meanwhile I’m working on a new, top secret project (or two) which will hopefully see the light of day in the not too distant future. This means I’m holed up in my office, although I hope to do some more readings later in the spring. More soon.

Comment/ No comments

Grace Shiver launch: warm and fuzzy!

5 February 2012

Thanks to everyone who came out to my launch event last Friday. It was a warm, intimate crowd tucked in between the shelves of People’s Co-op Bookstore (well, Ray did open them up a bit–they are on wheels!) Special thanks to Lydia Kwa for her great intro (“the Lisbeth Salander of Canadian poetry” indeed!) to Ray for hosting, Mary at Little Nest for coordinating the luscious dips, and to Luciana at Inanna for all her support (wish you could have been there!) The shiver has now officially been launched.

Comment/ No comments

Christmas shopping opportunity

8 December 2011

This Saturday, December 10, I will be at local artist Jill Pilon’s studio in the afternoon as part of her collective holiday art fair. Copies of books will be on hand. The details:

 

JILL PILON STUDIO

Please join us for our annual holiday sale.
December 10th 2011
11am-6pm
1125 Mclean Drive(down the side stairs)
We will have an array of treasure at affordable prices so don’t miss out!
**We will also have an amazing raffle***
See you soon!
Cathy Stonehouse–meet the author and see her latest book!
Sylvia Oates- acrylic/oil landscapes
Helen Spaxman–Pottery/knitted gloves
Robbie Vergara–Silkscreen t-shirts 
Jill Pilon– www.jillpilon.com
Milisa Gardy–beeswax candles, herbs and teas from cortez island
Comment/ No comments

Upcoming Readings

5 November 2011

I’m delighted to be “headlining” for the SFU Writers Studio Reading Series this coming Friday, November 11, at Take 5 Cafe in downtown Vancouver at Granville and Hastings. The event kicks off at 7pm with readings from an enticing list of other writers, including Ingrid Rose, and ends promptly at 9pm. I plan to read from Something About the Animal, and to wear (if I can find it) my white peace poppy.

I’m also thrilled to be reading at the downtown Vancouver Public Library branch on Wednesday November 23, 7:30 pm, as part of a Biblioasis evening hosted by the Incite reading series. The wonderful Rebecca Rosenblum will be there, as will Ray Robertson, whose latest nonfiction title, Why Not? Fifteen Reasons to Live is shortlisted for the Writers Trust Nonfiction Award.

And last but not least, I will be launching my new collection of poetry, Grace Shiver, published by Inanna Publications, at People’s Co-op Books on Commercial Drive the evening of Friday, January 27 (tbc). The book should be in my hands in a couple of weeks, and I can’t wait.

Comment/ No comments

Animal play list

25 August 2011

I’m excited to announce that David Gutowski of www.largeheartedboy.com has now posted my play list for Something About the Animal. This was a fun project to participate in, and there are lots of other interesting play lists to look at also on the site, so check it out here.

I was especially excited to see Laird Hunt and Brian Evenson’s lists on the site, as both these experimental fiction writers have been inspirational to me. I also studied poetry at Naropa back in 2003 with Laird Hunt’s partner, Eleni Sikelianos, a workshop I will never forget, in part because it involved inventing new worlds (why not aim high!) I was struck then, and still am, by how little alternative literary work (and literature in general) crosses the US-Canada border. So it’s great to see a cross-pollinated site like this one. Speaking of which, Rachel Rose’s Cross-Pollination Reading Series at the Vancouver Public Library is a notable exception to the rule. And also speaking of which I will be reading at the VPL this November as part of the Writers’ Festival Incite reading series, alongside Biblioasis’s Ray Robertson and Rebecca Rosenblum. Do come if you are in town.

Comment/ No comments

At Last

19 August 2011

This is the title of the novel I am currently reading, by Edward St. Aubyn–the brilliant, excoriating follow-up to his Patrick Melrose series–and is also the way I feel about the upcoming publication of my second collection of poetry, Grace Shiver, due out this October with Inanna Press. I will receive the galleys shortly and am excited to think of these poems finally coming into print.

In other news, as they say, I will be participating in a Biblioasis reading tour » more

Comment/ No comments

I never promised you a rose garden.

28 July 2011

As I have known for a long time writing in a “difficult” way about “difficult” things is not an easy path. One or the other one can sometimes get away with, but rarely both, especially at the same time. Nevertheless I still do it, and will continue doing it, because that’s the way I write and what I have to say. Which doesn’t mean I don’t have a lot to learn; I just don’t plan on turning into anyone else. Unfortunately this doesn’t always go down well, not unexpectedly. The review of my book in the National Post last week made that clear. Nevertheless, I take certain aspects of it as a compliment. Clearly, Something about the Animal got under the reviewer’s skin, rattled him considerably. He also had to concede that I can write. I wish he had not misrepresented certain aspects of the book to potential readers, but on the other hand know that many of them will be perfectly capable of reading between the lines. » more

Comment/ No comments

Launch, Lawrence and later …

24 June 2011

Men do not wear high heels, but they still suffer. “He could now walk almost without pain”: The Prussian Officer. Since reading that sentence I want to write a story from it. My high school English teacher adored Lawrence and as a result I knew every nook and cranny of Sons and Lovers by age sixteen (those being pretty steamy nooks and crannies of course). David Herbert Lawrence may not have been a Serious Lady but he was certainly a very Serious Gent, and I find myself returning to his stories and poems with renewed respect after mocking his loin-filled novels for too many years. Class, passion, nature–all my favourite topics. Thanks to Keath Fraser for reminding me of this.

» more

Comment/ No comments
Tags: , ,

We have lift-off/ Scroll down for contest!

3 June 2011

Well the sun is finally out here (at least for the weekend) and I’m looking forward to launching Animal at the Café Deux Soleils on Commercial Drive Sunday night. It’s also Italian Days on the Drive so the mood should be festive—especially if the Canucks win their game on Saturday night. The talented Phil DeMarsh will be playing some moody guitar music, my friend and fellow poet/writer Fiona Tinwei Lam will be MC’ing and the tenaciously independent (and very local)  People’s Co-op Books will be hosting the book table. So if you are in Vancouver do come, 7:30 to 9:00 pm. Free admission! I will also probably be wearing lipstick (a rare event). » more

Comment/ No comments
Tags: ,

On Carson McCullers, Hokkaido and Fictional Voice

24 May 2011

“It happened that green and crazy summer when Frankie was twelve years old. This was the summer when for a long time she had not been a member. She belonged to no club and was a member of nothing in the world.”

— Carson McCullers, The Member of the Wedding.

 

“Miss Amelia was rich. In addition to the store she operated a still three miles back in the swamp, and ran out the best liquor in the county. She was a dark, tall woman with bones and muscles like a man. Her hair was cut short and brushed back from the forehead, and there was about her sunburned face a tense, haggard quality. She might have been a handsome woman if, even then, she was not slightly cross-eyed.”

— Carson McCullers, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe.
» more

Comment/ No comments
Tags: