Six Questions interview #111 : Naomi K. Lewis

Naomi K. Lewis is a Calgary-based fiction and non-fiction writer, editor, and creative writing instructor. Her books include Cricket in a Fist (2008) and I Know Who You Remind Me Of (2012), and she co-edited the anthology Shy (2013) with Rona Altrows. Her 2019 memoir, Tiny Lights for Travellers won the Vine Award for non-fiction, the Pinsky Givon Award for non-fiction, and the Wildfrid Eggleston award for non-fiction, as well as being shortlisted for the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Award and the Governor General’s Award for non-fiction. She is the 2022 writer-in-residence at MacEwan University.

Q: How long were you in Ottawa, and what first brought you here? What took you away? 

My family moved to Ottawa in 1983, when I was seven; before that, we lived in London, England, where my mother grew up, and then the Washington, DC area, where my father grew up. I went to elementary school, high school, and university in Ottawa – formative years – and then left for Toronto when I was 23, basically on a whim. Since then, I’ve lived in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and then Edmonton, and then landed in Calgary thirteen years ago. My parents still live in Ottawa, so I visit a couple of times a year; at least, I do when there’s no pandemic stopping me.

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

I left Ottawa the moment I graduated from my undergrad at Carleton, and I had barely started writing yet, then. Or, I should say, I hadn’t started showing my writing to anyone, or trying to engage with ‘real’ writers. Looking back, I wish I had been able to connect more with other writers in Ottawa, when I was young, in the late 90s, but I was afraid of writers and considered them magical creatures from another realm. Also, I remember that at the time I’d only ever heard specifically of one Ottawa writer, some guy called Rob McLennan.

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all? Have there been subsequent shifts due to where you have lived since? 

In Toronto, I worked for an academic book distributor for two years, and had some exposure to writers and the publishing industry for the first time, and I started taking creative writing classes at U of T, so that was the first time I met other people interested in writing and publishing books. My instructors told me about grad programs for creative writing, which I’d never heard of before. I applied to several, and almost moved to Alaska to do an MFA, but I ended up going to New Brunswick to do an MA in creative writing. That was the first time I immersed myself in a community of writers. It made all the difference in the world to be able to talk about the highs and lows of the writing life, and well as the nitty gritty of writing itself, and since then, I’ve always sought out the writing community wherever I live, especially here in Calgary, where I’ve found that community especially welcoming and enthusiastic (when there isn’t a pandemic). I love the support and intellectual stimulation that a writing community provides. On the other hand, it’s possible to get caught up in socializing and talking about writing, instead of actually writing. At least it was, before the pandemic.

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

Ottawa is where I became myself in a lot of ways, so the city is part of me in a profound way.

I wish I could answer this question better, but I haven’t lived in Ottawa for 22 years. The International Writers Festival is certainly wonderful.

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

Yes, my first novel, Cricket in a Fist, is set in Ottawa and Toronto, and I also set some of the stories in my collection I Know Who You Remind Me Of in Ottawa. I also write a memoir, Tiny Lights for Travellers, so of course Ottawa’s in there, too. When I think of adolescence, there’s always an Ottawa backdrop. I’m writing a novel now that’s partly set in Ottawa as well.

Q: What are you working on now?

I’m working on a novel, but I can’t jinx it by saying anything more!

 

The Calgary Renaissance: an interview with Naomi K. Lewis

Edited by derek beaulieu and rob mclennan, and designed by Chaudiere co-publisher Christine McNair, The Calgary Renaissance highlights some of the diverse and astonishing experimental poetry and fiction that has emerged out of the past two decades of Calgary writing. An essential portrait of some of the most engaged and radical of Canadian writing and writers from one of the country’s most important literary centres. You can order a copy directly, here.

For further (ongoing) interviews with contributors to The Calgary Renaissance, check out the link here.

Born in England, Naomi K. Lewis grew up in Washington, DC and Ottawa, and has since lived in Toronto, Fredericton, Edmonton, and Calgary. She wrote the 2008 novel Cricket in a Fist and the 2012 story collection I Know Who You Remind Me Of, which was shortlisted for the George Bugnet Award for fiction and the Alberta Readers Choice Award, and won Enfield & Wizenty’s Colophon Prize. With Rona Altrows, she co-edited the award-winning 2013 anthology Shy. In Edmonton and Calgary, she worked as a magazine editor for ten years, and her magazine journalism has been shortlisted for provincial and national magazine awards. Naomi teaches creative writing, and served as the Calgary Public Library’s writer in residence in 2011. In 2016, she was writer in residence at the University of New Brunswick but has since returned to Calgary.

Q: How long have you been in Calgary, and what first took you there?

A: I moved to Calgary in 2009, for a job. I was living in Edmonton before that, but I’m from Ottawa.

Q: You were already involved with a literary community prior to your arrival. What was your experience upon arriving in Calgary? What sort of communities did you become involved with, and how did they differ from what you were involved with in other cities?

A: When I arrived in Calgary in 2009, I started attending readings, and I was amazed at how friendly I found the literary community – several literary communities, in fact. I quickly formed connections with talented and hard-working literary and commercial fiction writers, poets, and journalists, and found my time with all those groups, separately and in their overlaps, edifying and encouraging. I’d never known so many writers whose work I admired, or found a community so welcoming. When my story collection I Know Who You Remind Me Of was published in 2012, I felt incredibly supported, once again. The Calgary writing scene is just wonderful.

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

A: In Calgary, I’ve found a huge variety of literary communities, from conceptual poets to spoken word artists to literary journalists to novelists and short story writers. I haven’t found such a diverse literary community anywhere else. My exposure to all these diverse voices has motivated me to try different genres myself, and branch out from fiction to non-fiction in particular.

Q: What prompted your move away, and what kind of effect has the shift made in your work? How is it now that you’ve returned?

A: I spent the winter of 2015 as writer-in-residence at the University of New Brunswick, and the summer in Kelowna, BC, where my partner was working. During those eight months, I spent a lot of time alone writing, rather than spending time with other writers. Returning to Calgary, I’ve realized what a vibrant community we have here, and how important it is to find a balance between engaging with peers and spending time alone with my work.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: Right now I’m working on a travel memoir. In the summer of 1942, my Jewish grandfather fled the German-occupied Netherlands to southern France. He left a journal detailing those 14 days, which my family found only after his death. In the summer of 2015, I followed his route, travelling to the same places on the same dates. My book interweaves my grandfather’s journal with my own.