Six Questions interview #142 : Leah Schnurr

Leah Schnurr lives in Ottawa, where she writes very slowly. Her poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in The Windsor Review, CAROUSEL, MockingHeart Review, The Pinch, and SWWIM. She is an active member of the Canty Collective of Writerly Women, and she tweets sporadically like the introvert she is at @LeahSchnurr.

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

I first moved from Toronto to Ottawa in the early 2000’s when I went to Carleton for my degree in journalism, and after several years away for work, I moved back in 2014.

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

I’ve been writing poetry in some form or another since I was in my teens, and slowly over the years, with many fits and starts, I’ve realized it really is the form that most sustains me. While I originally moved to Ottawa for work, it has been wonderful to discover how vibrant the writing community is here. I was, unfortunately, just beginning to scratch the surface when the pandemic hit, but being able to attend things like the Tree Reading Series and VerseFest virtually these last couple years has kept that community feeling going for me.

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

I think it can be easy to forget how important community is when you’re sitting at home trying to wrangle a poem, or any piece of art, into shape. Watching someone read their work (in-person or otherwise) is so inspiring and energizing to me, and doubly so when that person is in my own city. When I’m feeling dull or foggy about my own work, I try to remember to engage a little more, whether by checking out a reading or picking up something by a local writer. It always lifts me up, a sort of borrowing of creative courage.

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

For the size of the city, the number of events, readings, and workshops that happen in Ottawa is astounding. And I think there’s something really fortifying about the fact that Ottawa tends to fly under the radar unless you live here. I like places (and people) that just do their own thing regardless of whether anyone notices.

Personally, Ottawa has provided a sort of mental space I haven’t found in other cities. I’ve had some of the most fruitful writing periods of my life while living here, and I think Ottawa as a place is deeply imbued in my work, even if I’m not writing about it directly.

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?

When I go to writing events in the city, it is clear to me just how many people live here that are also writers on top of their day jobs. And I don’t mean that in a “side hustle” sort of concept, I mean that Ottawa can allow you to have a sustainable writing practice, or even a career, that doesn’t have to pay the bills. I find a lot of inspiration in the idea that there are a lot of people here that are quietly, steadily putting out great art, and I hope I can be one of those people.

Q: What are you working on now?

Right now, I’m working on learning how to write while parenting, which is to say I have a one-year-old and am trying to come to terms with a “writing day” now being whatever 15 minutes I can squeeze in. I have a set of drafts I am tending to that might turn out to be a series of linked poems, but so far they are closely guarding their secrets.