Dawn Macdonald on Amanda Earl's Kiki, N.W. Lea's Understander, Monty Reid's Garden + Andy Weaver's This

In case you hadn't caught, Whitehorse poet Dawn Macdonald started a substack recently [catch her own 2024 debut here, if you haven't already], and has been reviewing up a storm, offering her thoughts on a slew of books, including a handful of Chaudiere Books titles (all still available through Invisible Publishing, of course): Amanda Earl's Kiki (2014) [see her review here], N.W. Lea's Understander (2015) [see her review here], Monty Reid's Garden (2014) [see her review here] and Andy Weaver's This (2015) [see her review here]. Thanks so much! Very pleased to see any and all of these books still connecting with readers, especially given that once books are six months old, there often aren't ever any reviews ever again. You should follow her substack to see what she might review next!

Six Questions interview #221 : Charlene Elsby

Charlene Elsby is a philosophy doctor whose books include The Devil Thinks I'm Pretty, Violent Faculties, and The Organization is Here to Support You. Her essays and interviews have appeared in Bustle Books, The Millions, and the LA Review of Books.

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

I moved to Ottawa in the spring of 2020, when COVID was in full force. I was a tenure-track professor at a US institution, and my job was cut as part of a department closure. I decided to do what many disillusioned academics do—move to Ottawa and join the public service.

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

I've been writing since I was a teenager. Then for a while, I was writing just philosophy, but after my philosophy department dissolved, I was moved into the English department, and that's when I decided to pick up fiction again. I wrote a novel, Hexis, and published that with Clash Books. After I moved to Ottawa, I had a book come out with The Porcupine's Quill, and I decided to drive around to all the bookstores and ask them to stock it. They were so friendly! I also went to a poetry night that Barely Bruised Books organized in the park.

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

I'm not sure I'm in a community of writers. I have writer friends online that I interact with on a regular basis, but we have to be careful. There's so much noise and misinformation out there about how writing works, publishing, etc. If you spend too much time reading or thinking about what writers have to say, you'll end up spiraling in a delusional world created by other people's anxieties. There aren't actually any rules! Just a bunch of people trying to figure out how to exist while doing something that's lonely by nature.

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

I think it's cool that Ottawa has its own community. It's nice to see that things are going on, we're not just a commuter city for writers who would prefer to be in Toronto or Montreal. We have the bookstores, the fairs, the events, poetry night at the cafe, etc. It's a big enough place, and there are enough interested people, that the community can be self-sustaining. That's definitely not true everywhere.

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 published a couple of short stories that refer directly to areas in my neighbourhood. One thing I noticed when I moved to Vanier is the number of houses that have burned down and been left to the elements. I take walks around the grotto and the cemetery, and those have figured as settings in stories.

Q: What are you working on now?

I just finished a novel about a serial killer from the wife's point of view. The narrator starts to believe her husband is unfaithful and investigates. She subsequently suspects him of killing other women and, grappling with the betrayal, her rage and jealousy, she must also contend with her own violent tendencies.