After graduating from Trinity College, University of
Toronto, Heather Mallett taught school – grade school, nursery school, and secondary
school art. Later, she worked as a professional calligrapher, collaboratively
lettering and illustrating The Merchant Navy Book of Remembrance in the Peace
Tower, Ottawa, where she lives with her husband, John. She is the mother of two
beloved daughters, now adults with families of their own. She spends most
summers at their cottage near Parry Sound, Ontario, where she delights in
paddleboarding, and in ambling along the wooded path with her canine pal. She
is a facilitator of workshops in creativity, and writes stories about what was,
what is, and what might be.
Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
Originally from Toronto, we then lived in Parry Sound for 9 years, and moved to Ottawa in 1971. I moved here with my husband and two young children because my husband was hired as an English teacher at Ridgemont High School.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
I have been writing poetry and journaling most of my life. I took a course in poetry writing at Carleton University in the 1970s but realized that I was probably never going to become a Mary Oliver or a David Whyte. Then, in 2017, I took a course in “Remembering Through Reading” with Dr. Anna Rumin at Carleton, and became addicted the rush of writing stories. And listening to the stories of others.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
As Michele Obama says, (along with many others), stories are what connect us. Apart from your name, I have no idea who you are, until I know something of your story. If we leave nothing else in the world, we can leave our stories for others to ponder. I also have found out that writing a story is one thing, but finding a place for my story to be read, and making sure that the story is written clearly and carefully, is a lot of hard work.
Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?
I am not very clear about what is happening in other places. Ottawa is a good place for networking.
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 would never have put together a book of 270 pages without the encouragement of friends and family and the writing community. A lot of really kind people critiqued my work, edited it, and helped with the technical issues I encountered along the way, like editing using PDF.
Q: What are you working on now?
I am slowly revising stories that I have written,
writing about the vicissitudes of daily life, and putting together a manuscript
with the working title, Lost and Found.
