Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
I went to high school in Ottawa! Then I left for about a decade, and then I moved back. I've been back for five years now. So many of my favourite people are here; Ottawa feels like home.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
I've always been "involved in writing," I think. I'm not sure I was aware there was such a thing as "writing community" till I got to university in Kingston; after that I looked for it wherever I was, especially in Vancouver and Sudbury. It's been wonderful to find writer-types here in Ottawa now that I'm back. I think Chris Turnbull was the first Ottawa writer who connected me to folks. Really grateful for that.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
It's probably cliche to say this, but it's inspiring. I'm somebody who can procrastinate endlessly and/or just live in my head. Seeing other people "doing the thing" makes me want to get stuff done and not just think about it. Besides that, there's an element of support and accountability. It makes me think about why art (& writing in particular) matters in a community & what its responsibilities might be, if that makes sense. Other writers challenge & humble me, but they're also usually very kindred spirits in one way or another.
Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?
Readers, to be frank. People here are incredibly literate. Obviously I include writers in that number (we generally have to read as part of the job description), but gosh there are a lot of people who like to read and talk about literary works (or go to plays, or films, or whatever) in this town.
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 have a lot of really smart & compassionate friends here, who seem to have accumulated in this place because of jobs or family or education or any number of other commitments. Knowing they'll engage & challenge my work, & that I'll be seeing a lot of them after they do so, makes me think really deeply about the things I'm trying to do. I trust them to demand that I be honest & say things that are worth their while.
Q: What are you working on now?
Another book! (Another novel, another work of historical fiction; totally different time period & subject matter from the last one. Music is involved.) Hope my publisher likes it.
