Ukraine - A Spring for the Thirsty

Ukraine: A Spring for the Thirsty / ed. by Arthur Thompson
Dupond, c2022.
252 p.

Ukraine has been on my mind even more as we head up to the 2 year mark of the Russian invasion. I have been looking for some more Ukrainian reading, and came across this collection of interviews with five publishers and four translators, all talking about the actuality of translating work from Ukrainian (mostly to English). I am interested in having more Ukrainian fiction translated, and I am interested in translation itself, so I thought I might like this. I wasn't prepared for how fascinating I found it! 

It covers a lot of ground, although it was published in 2022, so a lot of it was researched and written prior to the full scale invasion, which has changed a lot -- including how many people are now aware of Ukraine. However, there were a few mentions of it in some of the conversations. 

The book interviews four translators - Uilleam Blacker, Mark Andryczyk, Michael M. Naydan, and one of my favourites, Nina Murray. They each talk about how they got into translating Ukrainian literature, and some of their ideas about future projects. There's also discussion of the details of translating, from the actual work to finding publishers for books they'd like to translate. 

The publishers interviewed start with Osnovy Publishing in Kyiv - a long-time publisher of Ukrainian language books and classics & non-fiction. When the current owner took it over from her parents a decade ago, she found that that formula wasn't working, and has moved to kids books, photo books and mainly English language publishing. It's a fascinating discussion of the way the book scene has changed, and what they do to keep Ukrainian literature flowing. 

Then we meet Lost Horse Press, a Seattle based poetry publisher. They have a Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series, in which most collections are published in a dual-language format. Their series editor is an academic specializing in Slavic studies, who also does translations from Ukrainian and Russian. This conversation covers a lot about the independent publishing scene in the US and what it's like to publish poetry as a small press. Also about how bigger houses don't want to take as many risks on 'unknown' literatures like Ukrainian. Really interesting overall, and now I have a list of poetry books to read. 

Next up is Glagoslav Publications, which publishes only in digital format (my library has many of their ebooks, which is a great help to me!) They operate from Ukraine, England and the Netherlands, and publish Ukrainian works as well as Russian, Belorusian, Georgian and the like, books from the wider region. They say they prefer classics as many of those have not been shared with the English speaking world, but at the time of the interview, they noted that there isn't the support for Ukrainian translations (ie: grants and government support) as for others like Polish literature. Hopefully that is now changing! This is a long-standing publisher so it was intriguing to see how they develop and what they focus on. 

Then we have Jantar Press, based in the UK and focused on publishing English translations of Central and Eastern European literature. They have one Ukrainian translation that I'm aware of, Andriy Lyubka's Carbide. It's interesting how the same issues come up in every interview - scarcity of translators from Ukrainian, few grants or governmental push to spread Ukrainian literature. 

And finally there is Deep Vellum, based in Dallas, and much better known already than it was just a few years ago. They've published a few excellent Ukrainian books so far, by big names like Serhiy Zhadan and Andriy Kurkov. The interview goes over some of their titles and the translators they've worked with, and also talks about the mechanics of running a small press interested in translations. 

Anyhow, these are not short interviews -- they are all lengthy and interesting and bring up different perspectives and ideas. I was so enthused by the idea of new translations by the end that I certainly hope the translators that were interviewed are getting more work now! 

And one more unmissable bit of this book is the Bibliography at the end. Absolutely invaluable. As they say, there are so few translations from Ukrainian that it is actually possible to make a list of them all -- they do note that their list can't be guaranteed to be comprehensive, but it's pretty close. It lists all Ukrainian fiction that has been translated into English between 1890-2022. There will be a bunch more to add since 2022 and continuing forward, probably more than the last ten years together. But this is a fantastic resource and a great reading list for anyone aiming to read more Ukrainian literature. They also mention the small excerpts of translations that can be found in journals like Apofenie or World Literature Today, or Ukrainian Literature: a Journal of Translations. Great places to check out. 

So you can see from my very wordy review of this book that I found it so good, so thorough, so intriguing. I hope that people interested in translation in general will find this one as it gives such a good look at publishing translations from a less trendy literature. So much to think about, and also a fabulous reading list included to get you started. Highly recommended. 

BBAW: An Interview with a fellow Blogger

It's Book Blogger Appreciation Week again! The Estella Society took over this event and revived it this year, so I'm joining in to say thank you to all the wonderful book bloggers who have made my life richer over my last 10 years of blogging.

This year I signed up to do an interview with another blogger, and I've discovered someone new to me, through strangely enough we have a ton in common....or perhaps not so strangely, as we both spend our time reading and talking about books.... even if she's in Texas and I'm in Ontario, Canada! 

Anyway, let me introduce you to the lovely Kay of Kay's Reading Life.

kay's reading life

"She reads books as one would breathe air, to fill up and live." Annie Dillard

1.       I notice you’ve been blogging for a long time – how did you originally get into the blogging world and what was different about it then as opposed to now?

I first had a blog in about 2008.  It was called My Random Acts Of Reading.  I had it for several years and enjoyed it mostly.  However, this was at the beginning of the book blogging trend and also at the beginning of the ‘expectations’ that started for book bloggers.  Everyone was so excited about the ARCs and review copies because they were FREE!  Then it became sort of overwhelming.  There were fusses and squabbles among the blogging world as a whole.  Somehow, I began to feel like the blogging was not very fun.  I had some family illnesses and deaths.  We sold our house, built a new one, and moved.  Life took over and I decided that blogging was not important to me.  I stepped away and eventually deleted that blog.  

A few years later, last year in fact, I knew that I had missed sharing about books.  I missed the friends I had made and missed the conversations.  So, I began my current blog ‘kay’s reading life’.  I have tried to be much more relaxed about blogging this time around.  I’ve taken breaks when I felt like it.  I’ve read what I wanted.  I’ve posted when I felt like it.  I’ll continue in this manner – taking breaks, reading books that aren’t the newest always, but mostly having a good time chatting about my favorite pursuit – reading.

2.       We’ve both worked in libraries – what is your favorite part of being a librarian?

I miss working in a library – more some days than others.  I am still involved as a volunteer and hope to continue that role for a long, long time.  My favorite parts of library work were probably (1) processing the new books – loved seeing all the brand new materials, (2) reader advisory – finding just the right book for a patron and suggesting other books they might like, (3) managing and moderating the two book groups – one read fiction/non-fiction and the other was devoted to mysteries.  I’m still the moderator of the mystery group as a volunteer and I took a break from the other group, but am now back attending it again.

3.       What is the one book that you’d put into every patron’s hands if you could?  Or several books?

This answer would probably change, depending on the day or week or month.  Right now, I’d suggest Atul Gawande’s book, BEING MORTAL, as a non-fiction selection.  Such a wonderful book about mortality and choices.  As for fiction, I’d suggest Louise Penny’s mystery series, set in Canada, that begins with STILL LIFE.  The most recent book in the series is THE NATURE OF THE BEAST.  This is my favorite fiction series, mystery or otherwise.  I think Louise Penny is an incredibly gifted author.

4.       I love reading books that have vivid settings, almost like another character.  What setting from a book would you visit if you could and tell us the book it’s connected with.

I’ll answer by mentioning two locations (I don’t do very well with singular answers about books!).  I loved Peter May’s trilogy of mysteries set in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland – a very bleak and stark location, but one that is such a part of those books.  That trilogy begins with THE BLACKHOUSE and it’s set on Lewis Island.  The other location I’ll mention is British Columbia.  Canadian author Vicki Delany writes a mystery series set in the fictional town of Trafalger, BC.  I love her descriptions of the mountains and surrounding area.  Just beautiful.  And so you know, that series begins with IN THE SHADOW OF THE GLACIER.  

5.       What do you do when you’re not working or blogging?  Other hobbies or interests?

Honestly, reading and activities related to my reading are really my main pursuits.  However, especially in the last year, I’ve been working on getting more healthy, losing some weight, and being consistently active.  I enjoy listening to audiobooks and I love walking at my local rec center on their indoor track.  So, I guess you could say that I love walking and listening.  I also do strength training there and take a fitness class now and then.  My doctor is pleased and I feel much better as well.

6.       Lastly, and I think this should be part of every set of questions, what’s your favorite ice cream flavor?  Describe vividly.  LOL

My favorite ice cream flavor is Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia!  I love that ice cream.  And I was so pleased when they started producing it in ½ cup portions – those little tiny cups.  I can eat one of those on Friday nights (our dessert night) and not feel at all guilty.  Little chunks of dark chocolate stirred into cherry ice cream with bits of cherries.  It’s wonderful.  Yum!


To find out my own answers to these intriguing questions, pop on over to Kay's blog, right here, to see her interviewing me!

Marthe Jocelyn's Scribbling Women

Scribbling Women: true tales from astonishing lives / Marthe Jocelyn

Toronto: Tundra Books, c2011.

198 p.

This post is part of a blog tour for Marthe Jocelyn's latest book. Today is the final and fifth day of the tour, which has been going on all of this week. A list of all the participating blogs can be found at Tundra Books -- check out all the posts for many perspectives on this book and various interviews and special features by the bloggers involved.

To summarize this book quickly, it is a collection of eleven biographies of women who wrote, sometimes for publication and sometimes simply in private. The key connecting factor is that their writing was saved for future generations -- us -- to be able to read and feel that perhaps we now know a little more about the women of our collective past. It is aimed at middle grade/high school readers, and the level of detail and writing style are perfectly matched to this audience. I'd easily give it to any girl I know; actually, for that matter, any boy as well, because why should girls be the only ones to be interested in women's lives? I think opening our eyes to other lives and other ways of living is vital for both genders, at all ages.

The title comes from a dismissive comment made by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1855, at a time when many women were making their meagre livings by writing for papers and magazines -- he refers to them as a horde of scribbling women, interfering with the potential popularity of his own works. As another blogger suggested earlier in the week, perhaps it was sour grapes?

In any case, this book is a delight to read. Jocelyn explores the lives of women of many cultures and many eras. It is organized chronologically, which works well, and begins in distant Japan with Sei Shonagon, famous list maker. It moves through women who were journal keepers, letter writers, journalists, a slave making a record of her life, adventurers and writers of fiction and facts. Although I found all of the very different women's stories fascinating, I was most engaged personally by Isabella Beeton's story. Isabella (1836-1865) was an amazingly energetic woman, who grew up in a very unconventional setting -- a very large blended family whose stepfather moved them all in to his workplace at the Epsom Racetrack. They lived in the racetrack buildings, offices and halls. At a fairly young age she married and became the business equal of her husband, a magazine publisher who did alright in business but better once Isabella came along. She industriously wrote pieces for all of his papers. She also solicited and edited pieces and eventually created her masterpiece, Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management. She edited this collection of columns from the magazine pieces they had published, and created a book the likes of which had never been seen before, a true compendium of household wisdom for new household managers (ie: young, unprepared newly married women). It included cooking advice from very basic on up, recipes for serving invalids, cleaning and household maintenance advice and much more. It was also a bestseller. Isabella was a genius at the modern advice offered to writers to "repurpose your content"! She used. rewrote and reused much of her work to profit from it in multiple ways. Sadly, she met the fate of many women of the era, clever and industrious and successful as they might be. She died of puerperal fever after giving birth to a fourth son, at the young age of 28.

There are thrilling lives outlined in this book, with just enough information given to whet the appetite. It won't overwhelm younger readers, and will hopefully inspire older readers to search out more information on many of these intriguing women. I really enjoyed reading this and found it illuminating both for the factual lives of these women and for the recognition of lesser known lives. The respect given to women's daily life shines through in Jocelyn's writing and is much appreciated.

I also had the chance to talk to Marthe about her own life as a "Scribbling Woman" -- the conversation follows:

ME: Something I found very appealing about your book was the wide variety of women you highlighted. There are both women who wrote in personal forms like letters or journals, and women who made their living by their words. This made me wonder, what inspired you to make a career as a "Scribbling Woman"? Can you give us a sense of how your career developed?

MJ: From when I was about 25 until I was a little past 40, I had a small business designing and making toys and children's clothing. Choosing fabrics and combining odd patterns was part of that, as well as creating characters whose facial expressions changed with the tilt of a needle and thread. This was all background for when I had my own daughters and began to read them the stories I'd loved a kid, alongside the many brilliant new ones published in the intervening years. I was re-hooked on children's books, with the tickle of a thought that I might be able to write one. (That's a common thought, by the way, amongst people who become parents, but the truth is that children's books are VERY hard to write!) My toys were seen by an art director at Dutton who thought that the 'handmade' style would translate to illustration. I submitted a version of my collaged picture book, Hannah and the Seven Dresses, at about the same time I began work on a chapter book called The Invisible Day. The idea for that one came in response to my daughter's wish to walk to school alone in New York City. "Ha ha!" I said. "You'd have to be invisible!" And ping! That teeny idea grew into a story. Both books were bought by Dutton eventually, and I was on my way...

ME: I especially enjoyed the story of Isabella Beeton, who was a real powerhouse, equal to her husband in his publishing business. Did you come to have favourites among the women you profiled, or are all the women included some of your favourites among all the subjects you must have researched originally? How did you go about researching all of these varied lives?

MJ: The one question I dreaded most on this blog tour was that I'd likely be asked to choose a favourite. But, as you suggest, these eleven were all favourites, winnowed out of a field of about forty considerations. I didn't necessarily 'like' all these women, or want them as friends, but something about their stories I already knew of the more renowned women - Nellie Bly, Harriet Jacobs, Isabella Beeton - but as soon as my radar was turned on to receive signals about obscure women writers, I began to get recommendations from friends and friends-of-friends for possible subjects. I also made a point of seeking out odd documents in historical societies and places that might have been ignored by most other children's writers so far.

ME: I think you created a really great mix of women's lives in this book - have you ever considered creating a second volume with more of the women you have looked at during your research?

MJ: YES, I'd love to do a follow-up volume. I have many more women & girls deserving attention.

ME: I have a particular interest in both letter writing and journaling. Considering that some of the Scribbling Women in this book were journalers, and that your teen novel "Mable Riley" is a fictional diary set in our own town of Stratford, I am guessing that you find journals interesting as well. Do you keep a journal, and if so, how important is it to a writer to have such a resource?

MJ: I have kept a diary at a couple of points in my life, both times when starting a new chapter - moving to a new place - but each time I soon felt self-conscious and lost interest, finding that it took too long to put into words the fleeting and intangible sensations I was having. Point-form lists of impressions were more lasting for me, even re-reading later. What I could see from a train window, for instance, or the foods offered for breakfast in a foreign city. Maybe that's why Sei Shonagon's lists appealed to me so much, in her collection called The Pillow Book. Even her list headings are evocative: Repulsive things, Elegant things, Things that make me happy, Things that cannot be compared... I do keep a "writer's notebook" which is a little different from a personal journal. It contains lists - from shopping lists and to-do lists to the 'impression' lists I mentioned before, as well as snatches of overheard conversation, the occasional drawing, notes scribbled down when I attend talks by other writers, and random snatches of stories I'm working on. So, it's a record of sorts, but mostly of the disarray of my own thoughts.

ME: You've written many different kinds of books, from picture books to juvenile and teen novels to nonfiction books such as this one, and they are all equally impressive. How do you approach each kind of writing project -- is there a difference in how you create each kind of book?

MJ: Yes, every book is different of course, even within the same genre. And as you say, I like to try many types of books, usually more than one at a time. It is hard to work on one thing for more than two or three hours a day because the brain gets tired. I find if I have a novel unfolding alongside a picture book where I'm working on illustrations, I can go back and forth easily, mulling one subconsciously while working on the other and doubling my work day.

ME: Do you have any specific writing 'rituals' that you are superstitious about, or that help you get your writing done, besides having more than one project underway at a time?

MJ: I'm not really superstitious - except of course believing that if I don't write then nothing will get written. I often try to set a daily word count or a number of hours or a certain section to finish, just so it feels like a do-able amount and not a whole book! I tend to drink tea while I work, but I know it's just tea and not a magic potion...

ME: Well, I'm not sure I can totally agree with the idea that tea isn't a magical potion! It is certainly one of the necessities of my bookish days as well.

You conclude this book by making a Sei Shonagon inspired list of Things I Want To Learn More About (which, as a librarian & research addict, I loved!) Is this kind of curiosity vital to being a writer? Or are there other traits or habits that you think are essential for writers to have?

MJ: Hmm, I think curiosity IS essential, especially for a non-fiction writer. And I think we have to be good listeners, not always concerned with telling our own story but caring more about hearing what other stories are unfolding around us.

ME: I love the idea of listening to the other stories unfolding around us. That is kind of what we do as readers as well, don't you think? Thanks, Marthe, for answering a few questions and giving us a glimpse of your own writing life.

*****************************

Marthe Jocelyn is a Stratford based writer and illustrator whose latest book is on "tour" of many blogs this week. Don't forget to check out Tundra's great contest to win a copy of each of Marthe's 28 books -- just leave a comment on this post or on any other Scribbling Women post that's been part of the tour. (details here)

I can personally recommend Earthly Astonishments, Mable Riley, and Folly... three of her teen novels that I really, really enjoyed! And her picture books are great fun as well :)

Don't forget to follow the blog tour on to the next stop, at The Nervous Marigold.

Poetry Month Interview: Brick Books

Brick Books is a small publisher located in London, Ontario (Canada) which is celebrating its 35th Anniversary this year. I had a chat with general manager Kitty McKay Lewis, who has been with the press for over 20 years, to find out what it's like running a poetry-only publishing company.


1. Can you tell us a little about how Brick Books got started?

Stan Dragland and Don McKay, co-founders and editors at Brick Books, were teaching at the University of Western Ontario in London back in the 1970's and kept on seeing good poetry from writers in the area. They decided to start a press to publish this work. They started with chapbooks but we now publish full-length books - in the case of poetry, this is any book longer than 49 pages.

2. How did you get involved with Brick Books?

Don McKay is my big brother and asked if I would like to help out. I started by filling the orders and taking care of overdue accounts, then gradually added more duties to my role as general manager.

3. It is the 35th Anniversary of Brick Books this year. What have been some of the best selling books in your history?

Our current bestseller is Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems by Randall Maggs - a book about the great hockey goalie Terry Sawchuk. This book has sold around 3,500 copies - which is quite a feat for a book that was published 2 years ago. Randall has been travelling across the country and into the United States reading from this book - around 60 readings so far. And the book has won the Winterset Award, the E.J. Pratt Poetry Prize and the Kobzar Literary Award and was a Globe 100 book.

A Really Good Brown Girl by Marilyn Dumont was first published in 1996 and we are in our 12th printing of this book. It is adopted for college and university courses in Canada and the United States.

Songs for Relinquishing the Earth (1998) by Jan Zwicky and All Our Wonders Unavenged (2007) by Don Domanski won the Governor General's Award for Poetry and have been reprinted a number of times.

Elimination Dance by Michael Ondaatje has been in print since it was first published as a small chapbook in 1975. The current version is our 'Bilingual Travellers' Edition' which is in English and French and includes many illustrations.


4. How many books does Brick Books publish per year, and how are they selected? Do you have any advice for aspiring poets?

Brick Books publishes 7 books a year. We read submitted manuscripts from January 1 to April 30 every year. The 7 manuscripts are chosen for the excellence of their writing.

Advice for aspiring poets - read, read, read, write, write, write, and read some more. It is important to read other poets' work and be aware of what has already been published. You want to develop your own voice. Most of our authors have had many of the individual poems from their manuscripts published in literary journals or magazines such as the Malahat Review, The Fiddlehead, The Antigonish Review. Having a publishing history shows that the writer is serious, is developing their career, and has some experience with the editorial process. Most of these authors have been working on their manuscripts - writing, editing, revising - for 4 or 5 years before they send them to us for consideration.


5. What is the process of publication with your house? How long is it between acceptance of a manuscript and seeing a finished book?

We read submitted manuscripts from January 1 to April 30 every year. Anyone submitting will hear from us within 2 months - either the manuscript will be returned or it will be considered further. The final decision is made by our selection panel in early fall. The book will be published 2 years later. For example, we are assessing manuscripts for publication in 2012.


6. What kind of things have you done to promote and publicize poetry over the years? Have you noticed a change in the way you do things since social media became so omnipresent?

Brick Books authors are encouraged to travel to do readings to promote their books. We received promotion tour funding from the Canada Council for the Arts to assist with this. We place ads in a number of literary magazines. We also have been quite busy with Facebook and Twitter since these came on the scene. We have a group page and a fan page on Facebook and a presence on Twitter for Brick Books.

We also receive a marketing grant through the Ontario Media Development Corporation and we have used a portion of this grant to send authors to Yellowknife and Whitehorse the past 2 years.

I have been travelling the past 2 weeks with Randall Maggs, author of Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems to Edmonton, Yellowknife, Whitehorse and Vancouver. One of the fun readings on this tour was in the Ice Castle at The SnowKing Winter Festival in Yellowknife preceded by an interpretive dance based on a hockey play with a pond hockey tournament going on outside the castle.

7. I see that to celebrate your 35th Anniversary, you are having a big sale throughout Poetry Month. Can you tell us a little bit about it so we can take advantage of it while it lasts?

We are having a special anniversary sale - $10 books in 2010 – you can buy a maximum of 5 books at $10 each – that’s a savings of up to 50%… From now until April 30th – the end of National Poetry Month.

For example, Night Work: The Sawchuk Poems by Randall Maggs – regular price $20 – now available for $10. Or Short Talks by Anne Carson – regular price $14 – now available for $10. All our books are listed at http://www.brickbooks.ca/

Shipping is $3.00 per book. And add 5% GST to the total amount of books.

ORDERS TO THE UNITED STATES – Shipping is $4.00 per book. No GST.

Payment must be received before the books can be mailed.

1. Send a cheque to Brick Books, Box 20081, 431 Boler Road, London, ON N6K 4G6. Please include your name and mailing address. We will take care of the rest……

2. If you would like to pay through PayPal or with a credit card, send a message to Kitty Lewis at brick.books@sympatico.ca and she can guide you through this process on our website.

Interview with a Blogger

As part of BBAW, today's celebration includes interviewing another blogger: today Kailana of The Written World and I are exchanging a quick set of questions. It's the Insta-Interview version, as we decided to interview each other since our original partners hadn't replied. We've asked each other the same questions: here are my answers; then pop on over to her blog for her replies.

1. As a Canadian blogger, do you make an effort to read Canadian or does the 'nationality' of a book matter to you? What is your favourite Canadian novel?

I do make an effort to keep up with Canadian fiction, as I feel it is important to know what is going on in my own milieu. (also, it’s important for my job!) I also love participating in the Canadian Book Challenge and finding out what everybody else is reading and enjoying. But I also like to read books from elsewhere, so that I’m not restricted to a view of only what is around me. I guess nationality would affect my reading in that I’d be more likely, not less, to pick something up if it was from somewhere else that interested me.


2. 'Do your real life friends/family know you blog/read your blog? Does this make any difference to how you write?

I never thought that my family read it until my dad started asking me things about it!  So now I know that they read it, but it doesn’t really change what I write. I’m close to my family and we talk a lot so they probably know everything I’m likely to say, anyway! I do tell everyone about my blog now, but when I started it I wasn’t saying anything. Now that I’m more comfortable with it even my coworkers know and look at it.


3. I was reading at work the other day & someone asked me what I was reading. Before I even had a chance to answer, he said 'a romance'? Do reading stereotypes bother you? Do you prefer/avoid any genres due to lurking stereotypes?

Well, I can’t imagine what I would have said to your co-worker! ;) I only had that happen to me once: one summer I was working in a mall selling raffle tickets and to keep myself sane I was reading a lot. This particular day I was reading a textbook for a course I would be taking in the fall, on Feminist Theory. An older man came up to buy a ticket and asked if I was enjoying my smut novel. Then I closed the book and he saw the title and backed away slowly…

But I read nearly every genre according to my mood. Except horror, I generally avoid. I like creepy and ghostly but gory I can’t take. I didn’t realize until now that I do make an effort to keep reading intellectually challenging work partly because I don’t want to be pigeonholed as reading only ‘women’s fiction’, with all the sexism that carries with it. Don't know if that is buying in to the whole stereotype, though!


4. How do you feel about covers of books? Do you judge books by their covers? Is there something that could appear on a cover that would make you not want to read the book or be seen in public with it?

I like good design that reflects the story. And if there’s a nice cover it might suck me into to checking out a book I might not have otherwise – at least to read the summary and a page or two. And an ugly cover can put me off even if I do want to read the book! As for appearing in public… well, when I was younger I would never have appeared in public with a romance novel, even though I do read them relatively often. Now, I don’t care, if I feel like reading a Regency romance I will. The only things I’d be hesitant to appear with in public these days would probably be erotica with sexy covers (just embarrassing to have strangers ask you about it!) or books about any specific health concern, for the same reason. Otherwise I don’t have any real concerns about what the books I read look like.


5. What's the biggest change in your reading habits since you started blogging, if any? Reading choices or ways of reading?

I’d say the biggest change I’ve noticed is that I read more carefully; I will take notes sometimes, and think about the story as I’m reading, trying to figure out what I want to say about it. And I find I can recall the books I’ve reviewed quite clearly also. It’s nice.

The other big change is in the range of my reading. Since I began blogging in 2006, I’ve found most of my reading through other blogs. I read the newspapers / online reviews also, but most of the titles that are new to me come from bloggers. And I feel like I know a lot more about the genres that I don’t read as regularly – graphic novels and science fiction in particular. It’s been enriching to my own reading life as well as my professional knowledge. Blogging has been a wonderful experience!

Interview with Kate Story, and a giveaway!

Kate Story, author of Blasted (see review below), has generously agreed to an interview with me, and has also made a copy of her book available to give away to an interested reader. So, once you've read the interview or review, please comment on this post about what appeals to you most about this book for a chance to win a copy of your own! I'll be drawing for it in one week, so you have until midnight (EST) on Oct. 6/08 to enter your name.




1.This is your first novel, but you've written plays and work in theatre and music and dance. What made you want to tell this story as a novel, and how has your other artistic experience affected your writing?

My first run at this material was an awful attempt to write a play. Then I wrote a truly terrible short story. I have a writing group in Toronto, and the group leader Prim Pemberton said to me, “This seems to me like something that wants to be longer. You tend to write long anyway – why don’t you try this as a novel?” And, having never tried to write a novel before, I flipped my hair and chirped “Okay!” I am very glad I had no idea how hard it is to write a novel because there’s no way I’d have done it if I had. It’s a lot of damn work. And yet I must be hooked because I’ve written the first draft of a second book.

I think my other work does come into my prose writing. For example, I find dialogue comes fairly easily to me – I can hear the characters talking to each other, I can hear their voices. This is partly because I am always interested in talking (I’m a Newfoundlander) and listening; also the theatre experience must feed in here. You’re always being asked to improvise scenes and so on, to get into the body and mind of a character as an actor. And my work as a dancer too – I am always picturing very precisely what people are physically doing. In fact, a large part of editing the book was taking out these insanely detailed descriptions of people sitting, standing, moving, picking up beers – and exactly HOW they were sitting, standing, and picking up beers. (It was as if I was making blocking notes for a play or choreographing a dance.) I hope that my sense of rhythm and speech and breath, the life of the body, come through in the book.


2. As a Newfoundlander who has lived in Toronto and is part of the arts community yourself, how much have your own experiences been incorporated into Blasted?

The geography of the book is totally ripped off from my own life. I did grow up on the Southside Road (although my house was up the road from Ruby’s and very different, middle-class), and Ruby’s apartment in Toronto is an apartment I had on Shaw Street. Much of the rest of it is absolutely fiction. I did not have a friend like Juanita Cooper, or Blue, although both characters seem quite real to me now. I did use stories of friends for some experiences I have not had (with their permission) – for example, Joseph Naytowhow told me some Cree stories and also stories from his own past, and I spoke with other friends who helped me imagine a gay, middle-aged Cree man from Saskatchewan and what he might be like (Blue is very different from anyone I know, though, I must say!); another friend told me her herb-induced abortion story and let me use that.

Some of Ruby’s sense of alienation and rage is mine as well. I had a hard time adjusting when I first moved to Ontario – I found that some people (not all, mind you) assumed that the way they did things was the way everyone did things, that “Canada” was “Southern Ontario.” Some people were pretty quick with contempt for a “funny accent” or not knowing where to put a subway token. I didn’t even know what a bagel was, for Chrissake – the cultures are quite different and it was a big adjustment, even though my mother was from Ontario originally. Someone like Ruby would perhaps have an even greater sense of alienation. I don’t feel that way now – I’ve lived in Ontario a long time and have met people from diverse backgrounds in this province.


3. Tell me more about Ruby. How did you come up with such a wonderful character -- foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, and brazen yet also completely engaging and sympathetic?

What I learned first about Ruby was that she wanted me to tell her story. She is tough but also very vulnerable. She’s got a lot of blanks in her memory – partly substance-induced, but partly as a sane response to the chaos she grew up with. She’s a survivor. But she’s 25, and the coping mechanisms are beginning to fray around the edges. She faces a choice – to keep going on as she has been, courting chaos and disaster, or to fence with demons. She faces them, but in a very Ruby-like way. I think if I met her she’d irritate the hell out of me and I’d love her too.

With Ruby I had that experience I’ve heard other writers talk about – she seized me and demanded that I tell her story. She really sprang into my imagination fully-formed. I think too that part of what comes through in the novel is my propensity for alcoholics and dangerous people. I know a lot of them, I tend to fall in love with them. The book is in some ways a sort of love letter to the people I grew up with, who I knew and know. I suppose too that she’s a reflection of part of me. You’d have to ask my friends and ex-es about that.


4. Fairy folkore is a huge part of this book. What was your inspiration for drawing on this theme?
I grew up in Newfoundland, and I grew up with fragments of fairy stories, lore, that kind of thing.

One of my brothers was working on a PhD in Sociology and researching Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, which was very big at that point – he was researching how FAS was getting mobilized in the media and in medical texts. There was this whole culture of “blame the mother” going on that interested and worried me. At the same time I was researching changeling lore, just out of interest. I started seeing parallels in how both FAS and Changelings are/were mobilized in cultural narratives. I started asking around, and friends from very different cultures and places – a Saskatchewan Cree man (mentioned above), a friend from the Philippines, an Icelander – had similar sorts of stories about the little people. I began to wonder if maybe there is a human need to tell these narratives, that part of our experience has to be explained or stories need to be told about it. I’m not saying FAS and Changelings are real or not real – I actually don’t have an opinion.


5. I found it difficult to categorize this novel. It started out as a standard Canadian novel but by the time I finished I thought it was leaning toward "urban fantasy". What is your take on genre? Who or what were your influences?

I did a reading tour to help promote the book recently, and Newfoundlanders are coming out of the woodwork, talking to me about fairy lore. People talk about this stuff, but it’s usually someone they know who was led astray, or they heard of a man who was a changeling; it’s not usually presented as direct experience, although I’ve talked to more than one person who describes being fairy-led or led astray. My father (a prominent university professor) told me two separate stories of being led astray on familiar terrain, and seeing strange trees and so on, and having a panic, then eating bread and finding his way out. Certain places in the world seem to breed these kinds of experiences and narratives.

For me, honestly, this book is not fantasy (although I like your phrase “urban fantasy”! – that’s great). Genre in literature is pretty slippery, and getting slipperier, and I think this is a good thing. It seems to me that it’s only English Lit that is so obsessed with the idea of reality versus fantasy. I’ve read literary theory and/or criticism conveying an impression that when other literatures blur those boundaries (for example, Latin American and Caribbean literature, or the literature of Canadian Indigenous writers like Tomson Highway), we are usually a little condescending about it – and call it things like “magical realism” and assume that those brown people do it. I am being crude here – but it does make me a bit hot under the collar. I feel that boundaries in literature are changing – we acknowledge that there are different ways to tell the truth, that sometimes the most direct way to a truth might seem fantastical, and that the world is not exclusively what the dominant cultures call “real.” The issue to me is why it is we tell stories.

(At the same time I feel compelled to say that truth is very important to me. For example I see some politicians twisting the truth and using words to manipulate the populace, and I feel this is dangerous and wrong. I’m talking about fiction here!)

Perhaps in the context of Can Lit, “Blasted” is dancing on some boundaries. I hope it’s interesting for people to read, and trust that you don’t have to be from Newfoundland to feel the resonance and power of the stories, of the lore I drew on. They are human stories. One of my favourite authors is Ursula K. LeGuin, who writes science fiction and fantasy – but always I feel like her “thought experiments” help us find out more deeply what it means to be human.


6. What was your experience of writing this -- did it flow, was it difficult? What does your 'writing life' look like?

I started by writing images, fragments, ideas, anything at all, on little pieces of paper. These piled up and took over my kitchen table. I went through them several times and weeded out boring ones, then started piling them in what seemed like a natural order. Then I started in with the computer. It was a little like connect the dots, and very freeing. The first draft took maybe less than a year of part-time work. I had the support of Prim and my writing group, and did a second draft with them. A few years went by – my writer-friend Ursula Pflug read it and gave me feedback which inspired another draft – I got a very lovely rejection from a now-retired editor at Goose Lane who made some detailed and very smart suggestions in her letter to me, which inspired a major re-working of the book. Then Killick Press accepted it for publication. I had a wonderful editor Marnie Parsons, and she helped me clarify and edit like crazy (because it was very over-written, and still is, in my opinion – I wish I could have another go at it!) and made it so so much better.

I always loved the characters and the story always gripped me. Whenever I hadn’t been working on it for a while I’d feel Ruby glaring at me. She really wanted her story to be told, to come out.

My writing life… Christ. I feel perpetually guilty that I am not writing enough. I try to squeeze it in between work and play and other things. I am one of those “busy” people – I say yes to too many things. And then my writing slides because it feels selfish, and when I am not writing I get this nervous, irritable, tense feeling inside. I turn into a rotten version of myself, get bitchy and strung-out and drink too much. Then I remember that this always happens when I don’t write, and I make myself write again. And that feels good.

I write best in the morning. That’s my favourite time – I need to be fairly sure I won’t be interrupted, because I am so prone to finding other things to do that aren’t writing. I love to have a couple (or more, if possible) of private morning hours to write in. That’s my happiest time. I think most of us have inner judges or critics – at least, I think I am not alone here! – and mine like to come blasting in. “That’s no good,” they say, “that’s derivative.” “That’s weak, that’s stupid, that’s banal.” You get the drift. Luckily for me they seem to sleep in. So I fool them by getting at it early in the day. Editing, I can do any time. I love editing.

I wouldn’t wish becoming a writer on my worst enemy. Except that I love it above all things. What I’d like now is to not have to work other jobs etc. and to be able to work at my writing more full-time. I am working towards that.

I am always encouraged when I read statements from other authors who claim to be lazy or to procrastinate or to only write occasionally. Thank you to those honest people.





And thanks very much to you too, Kate, for sharing all this with us. Like I mentioned I'll be drawing for a copy of this book on Oct. 6/08, but if you don't win, you can always buy a copy online through
Creative Book Publishing/ Killick Press
Kate's Website itself
or even
Amazon.ca

Weekly Geeks #16: Blogger Interviews

This week Dewey has come up with a really fun idea -- not that the other weekly assignments haven't been fun, but this one is extra special! We are supposed to partner up with another Weekly Geeker and interview each other about a book we've recently read.





I've met a new-to-me blogger, Serena at Savvy Verse & Wit. I had the chance to interview her over a book she's just read and reviewed, Mrs. Lieutenant. She's also interviewed the author, Phyllis Zimbler Miller, and if you take a look at that interview you can also enter a giveaway for your own copy of this book! Here is our interview:


Melanie: This book sounds like it has an interesting structure. Did it tell the story from 4 first-person viewpoints, or a third person overview?


Serena: There are 4 POVs in the novel from each of the female characters. It was great to hear the inner thoughts of each character in their respective chapters, and I don't think a third person narrative would have capture what the women were thinking and feeling as well as the current structure.


Melanie: Were the characters recognizable as distinct individuals? Which of the women did you feel the most connection to, and why?


Serena: The characters are distinct individuals with varied pasts and concerns. For example, Sharon Gold is the Jewish, northerner and she is preoccupied with fitting in and in one case she discovers that she has nothing in common with the Jewish wives club members, but has more in common with Kim, Wendy, and Donna. I actually did not feel an affinity with any of the characters. I loved hearing about their respective fears and concerns, but I did not feel connected to any of the women. However, I could identify with the each woman's struggle to belong.


Melanie: Have you read many books set around the Vietnam War? If so, how does this compare?


Serena: I have read other Vietnam War novels and nonfiction books in college. One of my favorite authors is Tim O'Brien who wrote In the Lake of the Woods, The Things They Carried, If I Die in a Combat Zone, Box Me Up and Ship Me Home, July, July, Tomcat in Love, and Northern Lights. Fire in the Lake: The Vietnamese and the Americans in Vietnam is a non-fiction work I read for class by Frances FitzGerald, but I don't believe that I read it cover to cover. We also read Paco's Story by Larry Heinemann. I've also read the following poetry books as well: Dien Cai Dau by Yusef Komunyakaa and Song of Napalm by Bruce Weigel. I'm sure there are other books I've read as well, but these are the ones that come to mind.
I would say that the majority of the books I've read about the Vietnam War focus upon the male perspective of going to war, being in the war, and coming home and dealing with its effects. Mrs. Lieutenant is the only book I've read that deals with the impacts the war had on the wives of these soldiers and how they dealt with the prospect of being left behind and possibly never seeing their husbands again. It also provides a female point of view of war in general and the wives' obligations as part of the military.

Melanie: Some reviewers have drawn parallels between the setting of this book and that of the Iraq War. Considering that, do you think this would be a good read for those either pro or con about the current war? What about non-Americans?

Serena: I think this book would be a great fit for those who either are anti- or pro- Iraq or Vietnam War. It provides an inside look at the emotions stirred up by conflict and wars that are not easily understood. Non-Americans interested in American history would find the book interesting as well. But in a broader sense I find this to be a human interest story, a struggle of women with the emotions they have about war, losing their husbands, and traditions kept during that time period by the military.


Melanie: Do you feel from reading this book and interviewing the author that it is heavily based in her own experiences? Does knowing about the author's background beforehand add or take away from the reading experience for you, generally?


Serena: I knew about her background before reading the book, and I don't think that it detracted at all from the novel because both viewpoints are presented about the war, as well as some more ambiguous viewpoints about the war. For some, serving was a duty, while others saw officer's training as a means of escaping the draft or biding time until the war was over. Phyllis Zimbler Miller did indicate that this novel is heavily based upon her experiences as Mrs. Lieutenant, but she does not let her personal experiences color the characters she has created.


Melanie: Did you have a favourite part or find something especially memorable that you'd like to share?


Serena: I cannot pinpoint my favorite part of the book, only because it would give away too much for one of the character's stories. But it is a doosey and it caught me off guard.


Melanie: And a couple of general questions, if you want to answer them -- I see from your blog that you are a writer. How does blogging fit into your writing life?


Serena: Blogging is a great relief from my daily writing at work. It's creative, but it isn't where my passion lies. Poetry is something I write most often, though I am working on some fiction pieces and a novel. I have a hard time juggling my many interests on occasion and one interest may surface as the dominant writing pursuit from time to time. I enjoy blogging because it is a community experience and it always provides me with new books to read.


Melanie: What are some of the things you have found most fulfilling about having a book blog? More books for the TBR, finding like-minded people...??


Serena: Oops, I already partially answered this question. I like the community aspect of blogging and meeting new bloggers with a variety of interests and writing styles. It's great to read some of the more humorous stories people blog about, but it is also great to read reviews of books I haven't discovered yet or even books I have discovered. I enjoy reading reviews that are opposite of my own as well because it provides a different outlook on what worked for that reader and what didn't work for me and vice versa.

Serena interviewed me about a book I've just finished but had not reviewed as yet. She and I discussed Flower Children by Maxine Swann.

Serena: Flower Children by Maxine Swann seems to take a unique look at the impact the 70s and free love has on children who were coming of age at that time, did you find the perspective true to life?


Melanie: Despite growing up in the 70's I was very far from having hippie parents! But I found that the characterizations seemed realistic and the action flowed from those characterizations very naturally. So, yes, I believed the narrative voice, especially when the children were younger; as the two girls became adolescents in the final story, I wasn't as taken by them.


Serena: How would you describe the narrative?


Melanie: The story unfolds in discrete chapters which switch back and forth from first person (the voice of second daughter Maeve) and third person. I wasn't actually sure I really liked that approach, maybe all one or the other would have flowed better. It might also have been interesting to see the family through the first person eyes of each of the children.


Serena: Some reviews on Amazon have characterized the novel as a string of short stories, did you find this to be the case?


Melanie: Absolutely. The chapters, although following one another in chronological progression, were definitely separate stories which could stand alone. And therefore I did find some stronger than others -- as I mentioned, the story with the two girls as adolescents didn't have quite the same dreamy, reminiscent tone as the others.


Serena: Do you often read novels set in the 1970s or that time period?


Melanie: Actually, not really. I don't search for them, anyway, and I'd guess that my faint surprise at reading about the 70's in this one means it's not a regular occurrence.


Serena: Who would you recommend read this book to and why? Or would you not recommend the book, and why?


Melanie: I think that children of the 70's would find a lot of familiar touches, even if you didn't grow up in the country with hippie, divorced parents from extremely eccentric families... Really, probably anyone with an interest in American fiction, or domestic fiction from a bit of a different viewpoint would like this. It is full of free love and pot though, so if that bothers you, perhaps it's not the book of choice.


Serena: What were your favorite parts or elements of the novel?


Melanie: I enjoyed the voice of Maeve, and the dreamy feeling in the first couple of stories especially. It captured that random childhood freedom which I certainly had, to wander alone or with friends most of the day without having to be fearful or worried about strangers. In the first story, the author describes the two young sisters laying flat and still in a field long enough for a buzzard to show interest, and then suddenly sitting up thinking it was about to dive at them. This image repeats itself in the final story when the sisters return to their home as adults, and it really works.


Serena: Were the characters believable or well-rounded?


Melanie: The two girls were pretty clear, but aside from the big sister views of the two younger brothers you don't find out much about the boys. I would have liked a little more background and spirit to the mother; she was a bit vague for me. Their father, on the other hand, was quite a character, with each story filling out his profile a little more. When the kids go with him to their grandparents' in one story, you find out where he gets all his eccentricities from -- his whole family is made up of oddballs. Overall, they were all drawn clearly enough to feel like real individuals who I wanted to keep reading about.


Serena: You mentioned that you are not caught up on reviews, do you find that your reading and reviewing obligations are overwhelming at times or do you like the challenge of catching up?


Melanie: Every once in a while I feel overwhelmed, but all this reading and blogging is supposed to be fun, so I don't stress out too much. I don't feel obliged to review everything I read, or blog every day.


Serena: Here's a few other random questions:
I wonder how you came up with the title of your blog and if there is any significance to the title.


Melanie: I made up the word "Indextrious" as a blend of index and industrious, because I'm a librarian who likes cataloguing and indexing and picky things like that!


Serena: On Book Blogs, you belong to the Travel the World group, is there a particular reason you were drawn to that book group and how has your experience with the group been?


Melanie: I've just joined so have no stories to share yet. I'm interested because I like reading international fiction and seeing things from other viewpoints.


Serena: Taking on a lot of reading challenges seems time consuming, how do you find the time to work through all those challenges at the same time?


Melanie: Um...I rarely finish challenges! I just do them for fun and for community.


And speaking of community, thanks again to Dewey for coming up with so many great ideas and helping we book bloggers to get to know each other just a little better. And don't forget Serena's giveaway; enter to win your own copy of Mrs. Lieutenant!