Six Questions interview #87 : Debra Martens

Debra Martens [photo credit: Scott Proudfoot] has been living the international version of Stompin’s Tom’s “I’ve been everywhere, man.” With her partner and child, she has lived in Nairobi, New Delhi, Vienna, London, and most recently, East Jerusalem (the part that’s in the news). In between packing, she writes fiction, book reviews, some freelance stuff, and runs the website Canadian Writers Abroad. Her stories have appeared in Grain, Room, and The New Quarterly, as well as anthologies and defunct journals.

Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?

I’ve lived in Ottawa off and on for over thirty years. I’m currently living in Ottawa after five years in the UK and three years in Palestine. My husband and I first moved here because he got a job with (at the time) the Department of External Affairs. 

Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?

I’ve been writing since I was a teen, but publishing sporadically. After we returned from India, I was longing to work with other writers, so I contacted someone I knew from when I taught at the University of Ottawa, and she invited me to join a writing group that has since dissolved.  

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?

Since returning to Ottawa in 2019, I joined another writers’ group, which has been fantastic for several reasons: having published authors say positive things about my work has been the morale boost I needed, discussing progress in the business of writing has been motivational, and they’ve brought me up to date on things I wasn’t aware of during my absences. Most importantly, I enjoy reading and discussing their work. 

Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?  

I’ve had a bit of culture shock coming back to Ottawa. British humour is wickedly funny but can be offensive, and the political situation in some countries that we’ve lived in forces people to speak harsh truths, whereas here, I find that the anxiety about not offending any one group makes for a carefulness about what is said. It’s great that Canada is a mixed society and a super tolerant country, but ... well ... I wonder if we’re too judgmental.

Also, public spaces are cleaner here than in some of the countries we’ve lived in – no littering, for example. We have conveniently placed garbage cans because we are not expecting bombs to go off in them.

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How have the city and its community, if at all, changed the way you approached your work?  

Ottawa is a safe place to live, and I feel more relaxed here, more open to new work. As well, I recently tried out a new technique on a story with an actor/director friend, which went well.

Q: What are you working on now?

I’m finishing up a collection of linked short stories, and thinking about my next project.