Six Questions interview #121 : Janna Klostermann

“Don’t use us; we’re not you’re friggin’ material” was a comment Janna Klostermann’s Mom gave her about something she wrote, but Janna hasn’t quite been able to heed that advice in her writing that explores comedy, care and her family theatrics. Her work has been featured in the Globe and Mail, Poetry is Dead, and The Toronto Star, as well as on the CBC and in the documentary With my Face. She has also performed at Fresh Meat, Uproar and other storytelling events. Janna is based in Almonte, and is currently a postdoctoral fellow in Brock’s Department of Sociology where she is exploring issues in Ontario’s care economy. You can find her on Twitter at @jannaKlos.

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

I first moved to Ottawa in 2013 to start grad school at Carleton. Since then, I have lived in Centertown, the Golden Triangle and Hintonburg, and recently moved out to Almonte last spring.

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

As a kid, I got my start writing ‘dog journals’ about our family cocker spaniel dog Truffles. Over the years, I’ve written poetry and prose, and have performed at talent shows, staff parties, open mic nights, weddings and more. As a storyteller and performer, I enjoy rehearsing in the mirror, taking the stage, and learning from the laugh of the crowd or the knee-jerk response of myself and others. When I first moved to Ottawa, I was proud to print off multiple copies of works in progress to share at the In/Words writers’ circle. “That’s not how you spell prostrate,” was one of the first bits of writing feedback I received. Over the years, I have contributed to a few writing groups where we peer review one another’s work or set a timer for 45 minutes to write in shared silence, with 15 minutes breaks to talk shop in between.

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

My writing buddies have helped me to tell fuller stories about my life. When I drafted the script for my one-woman show ‘The Wounded Joker’ (about recovering from open-heart surgery at age 31), Sharon Hamilton and Susanne Fletcher encouraged me not only write about moments of being misrecognized (I had that down), but to include moments of care and connection. I included the part about hitting it off with one of my cardiac cronies who renamed the hospital eggs the ‘yellow puck of sadness.’ Putting those details on the record has changed things. It really has.

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

In my 20s, I think part of me hoped I could just show up somewhere at the right place and right time for a built-in sense of community or for someone to say, “I think you got something there kid” in a show-business-y “don’t you worry, we’ll make a star of you” tone of voice. I can only imagine how poorly that would have panned out. In Ottawa, I’m grateful that my writing community is one I’ve contributed to cultivating. Ottawa has been a good homebase with lots of entry points for building community in a slower, steadier way. I took a workshop with rob mclennan, only to hit it off with a few others and continue meeting with them to swap work. The same thing happened in a workshop with Rick Taylor. You hear someone say something interesting, and take it from there.

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? 

Taking the stage at local storytelling events and festivals around town has fueled my writing process. I enjoy working things out in public, with those performances sparking and informing my writing. When a baby screamed throughout my storytelling performance about getting an abortion (after being diagnosed with Marfan syndrome and told I needed open-heart surgery), I used that crappy experience – on stage and under the lights – to inform the essay I wrote about not being able to have kids. My experiences as a patient at the Ottawa Heart Institute have also fueled my writing on the theatrics of being cared for and on the importance of public healthcare. I use my material, work with what I have.

Q: What are you working on now? 

I’m mostly taking it bird by bird, setting the timer to write in 45-minute chunks and trying to keep a sense of humour about it. What I’m currently working on is a scholarly book project on the limits of care. The book weaves provocative memoir writing with in-depth sociological research that I conducted with former care providers (who reached their limits and stepped back from caring roles). My work asks questions about who cares for who, with a focus on gender, class and moral expectations. I’ve let up on the dog journals, but enjoy getting out for walks with my dog Lupi (pictured).