Andrea found success in Clevermag, Turbula, Jones Ave and Ascent Aspirations. Recently in The Basil O’Flaherty Feminist Voice, Event Horizon Literary Magazine Issue 9, Oddball Ezine, Mocking Owl Roost and receiving third prize from the poet laureate of Ottawa for I Am a Human Being. Work in Analogies & Allegories Literary Magazine and Panoplyzine as well as Ottawa’s newest publication Flo.
She finds our world changing in puzzling and curious ways and feels the need to speak out.
Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
I was born here in Ottawa. My father was a physicist working at the NRC, originally from New Jersey. He met my mother here in Ottawa. Shortly after I was born, my family moved back to New Jersey. I came back to Ottawa with my mother when I was 9. I went back and forth and after one year of college in the U.S. came home permanently to Ottawa. It’s just a beautiful place!
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
I first got involved in writing when I was in grade school and my teacher entered one of my poems into a contest. It won! After that, I never stopped writing. In high school in New Jersey, I was in the school literary magazine (named The Canuckling, oddly enough). I only write poetry. I did dabble in children’s poems, nothing published there, just for children I know.
I began submitting my poetry for publication in response to 9-11. I felt it was necessary to share and to let the world know we are together. I kept writing and being active but had a life change and stopped writing for a while. I became active in the writing community again when I felt ready. I found a wonderful small group of women (calling ourselves the Ottawa Ladies Poetry Group) and we encourage, critique, and support each other. We challenged ourselves to submit and that is how I am here again. I find platforms like 2-for1 poetry and book launches or contests through Ottawa writers’ groups and international on-line publications are exciting ways to experience all types of poetry.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
Being in these writing groups and communities, on-line and in person, allows me to read, see, hear and feel all the different types of writing. Our different views on the world challenge me to look at my own writing and to not fear sharing it. My opinions and views are as important as the others who share and read, from youth to seniors.
Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?
Ottawa is a special place that has so much to offer and to see everyone interacting and creating after such a long covid hiatus is wonderful. Ottawa, being a capital city has a special blend of culture and diversity. There’s so much to learn from everyone around us.
The National Gallery plays a big part in my work as well as the beautiful greenspaces that provide inspiration. I write a lot about world events and my responses are often intertwined with the spaces Ottawa has.
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?
I entered a contest about what it means to be a human being presented by Albert Dumont, English poet laureate of Ottawa. I was thrilled to have been awarded third place and included in his anthology. But for me, the project was special because there were so many different people represented. Young teenagers, older folks, and of all races and cultures. It was wonderful to see how words have meaning to us as humans, how we all are connected by emotions and thoughts and being able to express them.
Ottawa will always be the place for me that holds such magic, from the canal to the rivers, the Byward Market, Sparks St. and Lansdowne Park and of course the Parliament. The city is big enough to always be changing and small enough to always be welcoming.
Q: What are you working on now?
Currently, I have a few poems entered in contests and submitted to publications. I am working on finalizing a book of poetry. It’s a compilation of world events; from 9-11, through the war in Ukraine, our lives in a covid world and how we all fit in. I am also working on a small book of children’s poems I am very fond of and had fun reading to the little people I know called Our Gang.
1 comment:
Andrea has a true love of our capital city. Andrea also is a people person and her ability to express herself in such a beautiful way through words is a true gift which she shares.
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