Six Questions interview #116 : Katie Welch

Katie Welch writes fiction and teaches music in Kamloops, BC, on the traditional, unceded territory of the Secwepemc people. Her debut novel MAD HONEY will be published May 10 2022 by Wolsak & Wynn.

Katie’s short stories have been published in EVENT Magazine, Prairie Fire, The Antigonish Review, The Temz Review, The Quarantine Review and elsewhere. She was first runner-up in UBCO’s 2019 Short Story Contest, and her story “Poisoned Apple” was chosen as Pick-of-the-Week by Longform Fiction. She holds a BA in English Literature from the University of Toronto (1990). Her daughters, Olivia and Heather Saya, share her passion for nature and outdoor recreation. Katie loves to cycle, hike and cross-country ski with her husband, Will Stinson, and they are creating a remote home on Cortes Island, in Desolation Sound.

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

I was born in the Town of Tonawanda, near Buffalo, N.Y.. My American father and Canadian mother moved the family to Ottawa when I was two. At eighteen I moved to Toronto to attend U of T. Summer tree planting work lured me to British Columbia where I fell in love with the geography and where I have lived, in various communities, ever since.

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

My little sister and I shared a room. She had terrible nightmares, and I would tell her funny stories to help her get back to sleep. I started writing fiction in elementary school; a series of enthusiastic, creative and ultra-supportive teachers nurtured the passion. (Grateful shout-outs to Ottawa residents and retired high school English teachers Sidney Katz and Norman Handy.)

Teachers encouraged me to enter Ottawa literary contests, and I won a couple, which boosted my confidence.

Photos: Ottawa essay award presented by Lily Schreyer (wife of Governor General Ed Schreyer) in the Tent Room at Rideau Hall.

Ottawa in the 1980’s was an exciting time to be a student, especially at Fisher Park High School where an eclectic counter-culture-turned-pedagogue staff nurtured the thrill of learning while respecting the rigours of academia. We kept bees on the school roof – the original inspiration for my forthcoming novel MAD HONEY dates from this time – and learned to rappel down the building’s brick walls.

FPHS was the only high school with an elevator, and there were many disabled students, which fostered an atmosphere of inclusion, empathy and tolerance that benefitted everyone. A disproportionate number FPHS graduates have gone on to excel in their pursuits, making the Ottawa School Board’s decision to close the school the year I graduated ever more tragic. I wrote a eulogy for Fisher Park, and it became the last page of the last yearbook.

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? 

Tearing around Ottawa as a teenager made me believe I could do anything. On weekends I was a roadie; I used my father’s van to drive equipment for punk rock bands. Several of those musicians went on to have successful careers in the music industry. I was surrounded by creative people fearlessly pursuing their dreams.

An element of what I experienced in Ottawa survived decades when I was focused on family and then struggling with addiction. I went through a difficult divorce, and at 43 returned to my vocation and most cherished ambition, writing fiction.

Most communities have a writing group, and it’s always good to connect with fellow writers. In Kamloops I was part of a writing circle hosted and chaired by the late Richard Wagamese, who provided no-nonsense advice that continues to serve me well as my career unfolds. 

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

I believe studying a second language enriches one’s appreciation of the first. I started the French Immersion Program in 1972 as a four-year-old at Agincourt Road Public School. We were the first generation of kids to go through the program from start to finish. Back then language immersion was an exciting experiment. Our kindergarten class appeared in an episode of Sesame Street; meeting Big Bird is one of my earliest memories.

Ottawa offered an embarrassment of extracurricular activities and opportunities I took for granted at the time: rehearsal performances of Molière plays at the National Arts Centre, week-long exchanges in Québec, trips to the National Art Gallery and War Museum, attending sessions in the House of Commons. In retrospect I am awed by the richness of cultural experiences I enjoyed while growing up in Ottawa.

I raised two daughters in Kamloops, a community with a lot less money and different priorities. The largest theatre in Kamloops, population 100K, is a 685-seat venue attached to a high school. Two local referenda have resulted in NO votes for building an Arts Centre. I will always be grateful for growing up in Ottawa and learning that the Arts have enormous value, and I try to foster this appreciation wherever I live. 

Photo: Second place, high school short story contest, presented by Edith Cody-Rice on behalf of the Writer’s Development Trust at the National Library of Canada, 1987 Ottawa Valley Book Festival.

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? 

MAD HONEY is set in rural Ontario, not far from Ottawa. Some of the characters were inspired by people I knew growing up. When I’m writing I tap into a sense of no-holds-barred possibility, a place I couldn’t reach in tougher times of my life; this might be why I’m often inspired to write about things that happened when I was living in Ottawa.

Q: What are you working on now?

I recently completed a short story collection, thanks to the generosity of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts. I’m working on a second novel. A memoir/biography including stories from Ottawa and Fisher Park is in the planning stages.