Six Questions interview #152 : Carolyne Van Der Meer

Carolyne Van Der Meer [photo credit: Bryan Gagnon] is a Montreal-based journalist, public relations professional and university lecturer who has published articles, essays, short stories and poems internationally. She is the author of Motherlode: A Mosaic of Dutch Wartime Experience (WLUP, 2014), Journeywoman (Inanna, 2017) and Heart of Goodness: The Life of Marguerite Bourgeoys in 30 Poems | Du coeur à l’âme : La vie de Marguerite Bourgeoys en 30 poèmes (Guernica Editions, 2020). This book, for which she translated her own poems into French, was awarded second prize in the Poetry Category of the Catholic Media Association's 2021 Annual Book Awards and was a finalist in the Specialty Books category of The Word Guild’s 2021 annual Word Awards. Her fourth book, a full-length poetry collection, Sensorial, was released by Inanna in May 2022; and a chapbook, One Week’s Worth but a Lifetime More was published by Local Gems Press in June.

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

I came to Ottawa in 1986 to attend University of Ottawa on a scholarship to study lettres françaises but I graduated in 1990 with B.A. in English Literature. Afterwards, I was offered a job in communications in Montreal—and took it—though I was briefly tempted to move to Toronto to pursue graduate studies in journalism at Ryerson.

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

I always wrote—terrible poetry as a kid—and some mildly better short stories too. In my first year at uOttawa, I started writing for the student newspaper, The Fulcrum. In my second year, I became Features Editor—and went on to Arts Editor in my third year and News Editor in my fourth year. I also started freelancing for a few local publications. I came back to the Ottawa writing scene at the beginning of the pandemic, attending the Tree Reading Series and the Riverbed Reading Series and participating in open mic thanks to the encouragement of my then-publicist for my third book, Ottawa poet and now good friend Margo LaPierre. I still go to Tree! I am currently discussing starting a regular reading series with my brother Gary van der Meer, now an Ottawa resident and the priest at St. John The Evangelist Anglican Church on Somerset Street—at the church. More to come on this!

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? 

Working at The Fulcrum for four years meant that I was part of a broad community of writers—most of them aspiring to become journalists. This was a wonderful place for me to be—and to start figuring out what kind of writer I wanted to be. In terms of my writing life, I have since worked as a magazine journalist, a corporate writer and editor and a PR consultant specializing in content creation. And for the last 15 years or so, I’ve been an active poet, publishing and reading where I can. This has certainly been encouraged and influenced by both the anglophone and francophone poetry scenes in Montreal.

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

Ottawa has a particularly vibrant literary community that is welcoming and open. This is what I am seeing now. In my younger days, it was a breeding ground for the exploration of ideas with the built-in soapbox that was The Fulcrum.

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? 

Absolutely. Working with Margo as my publicist for a year opened my eyes to what the poetry community in Ottawa had to offer. I have since become more familiar with Ottawa poets and publications and have gained an understanding of what they care about and are looking for in terms of publishing opportunities. These are active considerations when I submit my work and when I participate in readings.

Q: What are you working on now? 

Mostly, I am looking for opportunities to read from and talk about my latest book Sensorial while it’s still hot off the press. I also have a finished poetry manuscript that I am beginning to send out to publishers. And a chapbook underway for publication next year. And I have developed a keen interest in the braided essay and am working quietly on these in the background.

 

Six Questions interview #151 : Salem Paige

Salem Paige is a queer and trans poet who plays with the conventions of poetry to bring intentional discomfort to their reader through sublime language. Their works revolve around the exploration of queer & creative identity as they create existential and often visceral imagery.

They were shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Prize in 2022. They have had poems published in BiPan magazine, flo. literary magazine, STREETCAKE magazine, and others.

Paige lives and works on Algonquin Anishinaabe territory (so-called Ottawa, Ontario), where they spend time napping excessively and annoying their partner and their two cats. More on Paige can be found at www.corpseofapoet.com or @corpseofapoet on instagram and twitter.

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

A: I grew up as a military brat, so I moved a number of across Canada and the United States in my early youth. I've been in Ottawa the longest -- I went to high school here and am about to complete my undergraduate degree at the University of Ottawa.

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

A: I've been writing since I could hold a pencil. I think most writers are like that, though. I've been submitting my work since 2020 so I suppose I'm relatively new in the greater community, but I've already made some amazing connections and friendships - I have a few longtime writer pals who I met a few years before then as well, and without them I probably wouldn't be writing at all today.

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

A: You can write for yourself. That is one thing, and I could go in depth about writing for yourself for a long time. But to write among a community, to write for and with people you care about and connect with, share values with, share memories with, is a completely different thing altogether. Sharing your writing with someone allows them to see you in the shape of your words instead of how you exist from their perspective. That goes both ways; to read the work of someone you care about and understand how they are experiencing the world - that is a feeling unlike anything else. Being able to write not only for yourself but for the people who mean something to you adds an extra layer to the experience. The support of working with other writers is also such a great motivator to write. Life is a boxing match in which self-doubt is the artist's eternal opponent. Having people in your corner makes you more likely to get up after being knocked down.

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

A: I absolutely love Ottawa's markets, where I get to meet other creatives in person and make connections and friendships. I just went to one last weekend hosted by Nosy Mag, and the Arlington Art Market tends to be hosted in spring, summer, and fall - the last one was at the beginning of this month. The selection of zines here are great, too - everyone I've worked with in Ottawa is so professional and the production quality is very high. These people are experts at what they do.

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?

A: The community here is incredible, and without their radical acceptance I would not be taking my writing as seriously as I am now - I wouldn’t be seeing my work for what it is nor seeing myself as as capable as I am. As far as the literal city, I have a series of poems in which I communicate back and forth with the Rideau Canal. I often walk to the canal to write. There's something about her that always calls me back.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I have a few too many concepts and outlines kicking around in my documents, but my two major projects that I'm focusing my attention on are two poetry manuscripts, one of which I'm in the process of querying, and the other I'm almost finished. The first is a very personal collection that explores discomfort, identity, and the impermanence of existence; the second is more narrative and plays with the concepts of time and space to reflect on human self-importance. I'm really excited to be working on both and can't wait to have readers connect with and interpret them.

 

Six Questions interview #150 : Tree Abraham

Tree Abraham is an Ottawa-born, Brooklyn-based writer, art director, and book designer. Her authorship experiments with fragmented essay and mixed media visuals. Her first book, Cyclettes, came out November 10^th with Book*Hug Press. Tree can be found online at treeabraham.com and on Instagram at @treexthree 

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

A: I was born and raised in Ottawa. The first half of my childhood was spent in Hunt Club, then there was a brief stint in Manotick before moving to Riverside South and later splitting time with my parents in Crystal Beach and Nepean. I left Ottawa in my early twenties after completing my degree in International Development and Environmental Sustainability from the University of Ottawa. I went on to study Graphic Design and Illustration at the University of Brighton in the UK and then made my way to New York where I have been working in publishing for the last six years.

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

A: For the last year I have been the art director for the intersectional feminist journal Canthius, which is based out of Ottawa and has been my only link to the Ottawa literary community. I came late to writing. I’ve always enjoyed writing and reading, but growing up I was intimidated by the craft. I was co-founder of a student-led newspaper at my high school, but kept to designing it rather than submitting articles. During university, I volunteered at the Ottawa School of Art and was involved in many art projects with non-profits that eventually led me to pursue a career in book design and authorship.

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

 A: For me, Ottawa has always encouraged a sort of ruminative inner focus. Those stretches of Greenbelt, water, farmland, and emptiness between suburbs; the placidness of long winters; the smudgy brown and grey brutalist architecture. It all became a frictionless, inaudible backdrop to my creative workings. I wanted to make color against it. Expression and voice were safe to enter, there was space.

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? 

A: I write about my reverence for Ottawa’s network of bike paths in Cyclettes. It wasn’t until I began traveling and living elsewhere that I realized how impressive and rare that network was. Each time I return to the city I am amazed at how the bike infrastructure continues to improve, far outpacing other bikeable cities I’ve visited in North America. My book is about bicycles, but it more often uses cycling as a metaphor for how I move through the world and make sense of myself. A lot of my ability to process and generate new ideas and connections within my work arrives when cycling on uninterrupted pathways through nature, like those found in the Ottawa-Gatineau region.

Q: What are you working on now? 

A: I am working on two new manuscripts, both works of creative nonfiction that like Cyclettes, use hybrid visual and textual forms to investigate recurring themes in my life.

Six Questions interview #149 : Katherine Lawrence

Katherine Lawrence [photo credit: Saskatoon Public Library] is the author of the young adult novel-in-verse Stay, and three poetry collections: Never Mind, Ring Finger, Left Hand, and Black Umbrella. Stay received the North American Gold Moonbeam Award for Children’s Poetry and was nominated for two Saskatchewan Book Awards: Poetry, and Children’s Literature. Never Mind was nominated for the Saskatchewan Book of the Year, and the City of Saskatoon Book Award.  Lying to Our Mothers was nominated for the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry. Ring Finger, Left Hand won the Saskatchewan Book Awards’ Brenda Macdonald Riches Best First Book Award.

Katherine was born in Hamilton, Ontario. She has lived in Saskatoon for over thirty-five years with her husband and their two daughters.

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

I moved from Hamilton to Ottawa in 1974 to study at Carleton. I graduated in 1978 with a BA in English. I moved back to Hamilton when I was offered a job at The Hamilton Spectator.

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

I started out in journalism at Carleton but transferred into English because my heart was in literature. I later worked as a journalist. I thought I could write poetry while supporting myself as a reporter, but I was too exhausted at the end of my workdays to keep writing at night. I was also adrift without a community of supportive writers. It took me two decades to build what I left behind in Ottawa.

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? 

Ottawa introduced me to people who encouraged me, at a young age, to keep writing poetry. Christopher Levenson was instrumental, not only as a professor but as a friend. He put me in touch with a writers’ group that included the late Carol Shields, among others. Robert Hogg was another poet/professor who nudged me along through books and readings.

These people led me to books that I would never have found on my own.

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

I was introduced to vibrant poetry readings downtown and on campus. I moved into writing groups and workshops. It was an exciting time for me. I knew that I wanted to write but I had not realized how important it was to find a community of support.

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? 

My new book, Black Umbrella, is a poetic memoir that returns to many of the people and places I met in Ottawa: my future husband; my long-time friend and former roommate; and the fabulous Rideau Canal.

Q: What are you working on now?

I am in the research phase of a project that looks at the power of female friendships and women’s sexuality.  Not sure if the research will take me into poetry or prose. Stand by!