Brenda studied English literature at Lakehead and Carleton universities and earned a Bachelor of Education from Queen’s University. She taught for fifteen years in the field of special education followed by a Communications career in the federal government. She currently writes full-time and makes her home in Ottawa.
Brenda belongs to the Writers Union of Canada (TWUC), Sisters in Crime, Capital Crime Writers, and Crime Writers of Canada (CWC).
Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first brought you here?
I’ve been living in Ottawa since I finished teachers’ college at Queen’s at the end of the 1970s. I’d landed a manager trainee job with Kmart St. Laurent for the summer and rented an apartment in Sandy Hill. Not long after that, I began teaching at a private school, and here I am all these years later, living in Westboro where my husband and I own a house and raised our two daughters.
Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
I studied creative writing at Lakehead University — a full year course that focused on short stories and poetry — but never tried my hand at getting published until some twenty years later. Canadian Living published my first short story submission in 2001, but it wasn’t until 2004 that Napoleon Publishing in Toronto released my first book, a middle grade mystery titled Running Scared. This led to three more books in the Jennifer Bannon mystery series. I went on to write adult mysteries as well as short stories, including the Stonechild and Rouleau police procedural series and the Anna Sweet mysteries for adult literacy. I now have 23 books in print, mostly in the crime fiction genre.
Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
After Running Scared found a publisher, I joined the local Capital Crime Writers and was happy that I did. I met other Ottawa writers and readers and received so much support and made lifelong friends. CCW also has monthly meetings with guests, such as detectives, psychologists, private eyes and other experts, greatly expanding my knowledge of all things crime- and policing-related. I was fortunate to be president for two years working alongside a terrific executive. I also joined our national crime-writing organization, Crime Writers of Canada, and spent the last two years as the Director for Ottawa and Eastern Ontario. Volunteering in both these organizations has enriched my life and given me connections in the book industry that I would not have realized on my own. I encourage new writers to join writing groups, get involved, and make connections — you won’t regret it!
Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or allow?
Ottawa has a close-knit writing community that offers support and opportunities for authors. We also have some wonderful independent bookshops, including Perfect Books, Books on Beechwood and Octopus Books, as well as Chapters and Coles bookstores that also like to feature local books and authors. Local festivals, book clubs and events offer unique experiences that bring together authors and readers. We are a big enough city to foster a wide-ranging writing community, but are small enough for readers to interact and to champion our authors. One small example: a local book club invited me to talk about Cold Mourning, first in my Stonechild and Rouleau series, several years ago. Since our first encounter, they’ve invited me back four or five times and we’ve also met for lunch and tea.
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?
Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley feature prominently in many of my books. The Anna Sweet mysteries for adult literacy are set in Ottawa with P.I. Anna Sweet setting up her office in Hintonburg and crimes happening all over the city. My recent Hunter and Tate series is set in Ottawa. In fact, my protagonist Ella Tate lives in the same apartment that I did on Percy Street in the Glebe J Every person I meet has an impact on my work, whether consciously or subconsciously, so it would be difficult to say how the community has impacted on my writing, except to say that readers, booksellers and media here are on the whole generous and encouraging and help to keep me motivated.
Q: What are you working on now?
Blind Date was released March, 2022, and I’m currently working on book two in the Hunter and Tate mystery series. I’ve gotten through the first draft and am deep into the first edit. When Last Seen, this second in the series, will be out spring 2023.
Of note,
local CHEZ 106 evening host Heather Williams narrated Blind Date (recently launched) and has signed up to narrate the
second book, which will also be released spring of next year. You can find out
more about all my books at www.brendachapman.ca
