cover
Words On Words
Nominees share what make their keyboards tick
by Greg Beatty
For lovers of literature in Saskatchewan — especially of the home-grown variety — it’s a wonderful time. Every year the Saskatchewan Book Awards celebrate the best examples of fiction, non-fiction and poetry created in this province.
The winners will be announced at a gala in Regina on Nov. 27 — and if you haven’t checked out the SBA 2010 shortlist (www.bookawards.sk.ca) as a reading guide yet, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do! To help you out, we asked some probing questions of the authors nominated for the Book of the Year, Saskatoon Book and Regina Book awards.
Now, get reading!
Book Of The Year
DAVID CARPENTER
A HUNTER’S CONFESSION (GREYSTONE BOOKS)
Drawing on his own experiences as a young man growing up on the Prairies, Carpenter explores the history of hunting and its evolution from providing meat for the dinner table to a largely recreational sport.
WELCOME TO CANADA (THE PORCUPINE’S QUILL)
This collection of eight short stories, set largely in wilderness areas, see the protagonists grapple with unfamiliar circumstances that challenge their character and force them to embark on voyages of self-discovery full of humour, danger and pathos.
What was your initial inspiration?
My initial inspiration for A Hunter’s Confession came from publisher Rob Sanders and poet Bob Currie. They both goaded me mercilessly for years, and ultimately I had no place to hide. But my inspiration for Welcome to Canada came from within, where I think it should come from. My version of Canada is a geographical one, a wilderness vision — we still live in a place with a lot of wild space between settlements. I don’t want to sound like a caveman, but I wanted to drag my readers into the bush with me, [where I’ve spent] a lifetime of rambling around.
Which two books by other SBA-nominated authors you’ve read recently impressed you most?
I haven’t quite finished Sandra Birdsell’s Waiting for Joe, but I’m very impressed with it — it reminds me of some of her very strong early work in which she looks at the hard-edged contemporary world. Another novel that really impresses me is Dianne Warren’s Cool Water. I can see this book being read for decades as a university text or just as a damn good read.
Who is your favourite literary character and why?
My favourite literary character: you mean just one? Maggie Vardoe would make the list (you have to guess which novel she’s from!), and Falstaff, and Hagar Shipley for sure, and Leopold Bloom, and Faulkner’s Old Ben (who’s a bear) and Duddy Kravitz. But just one character? I’m too fickle — I keep changing my mind.
DIANNE WARREN
COOL WATER (HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS)
Set in the southwest Saskatchewan hamlet of Juliet, Dianne Warren’s novel — her first after several short story collections — deftly interweaves a dozen or so narrative threads that play out in the personal and professional lives of local residents over the course of a single day.
What was your initial inspiration?
The arid landscape of southwestern Saskatchewan, and the fact that 100 years have passed since my grandfather filed his homestead. I wanted to look at contemporary Saskatchewan 100 years beyond the settlement dream, and beyond the times depicted by my literary predecessors Sinclair Ross and W.O. Mitchell. And from the beginning, Shelley’s poem Ozymandias kept repeating in my head.
Of books by other authors you’ve read recently, which two impressed you most?
The Australian writer Tim Winton’s Breath and Barbara Kingsolver’s The Lacuna. It was a surprise to me that I liked The Lacuna so much.
If a Hollywood movie was made about your life, who would you like to play you and why?
No one would ever want to make a movie about my life as a writer. Grass grows, paint dries.
PHYLLIS NAKONECHNY
VIDH: A BOOK OF MOURNING (HAGIOS PRESS)
Swift Current resident Phyllis Nakonechny is nominated for a book of poems that explore the experience of losing a life partner and coping with the subsequent sorrow over a four-year period.
What was your initial inspiration?
I felt compelled to write about grief. It was such an unexpected experience — I felt cut off from everyone and everything. A friend recently told me that she sees my book as a refusal to suffer the isolation of living a life that cannot be listened to. I liked that — it affirmed for me that in choosing to break the code of secrecy that surrounds the dark times of our lives I had offered a small, quiet voice of consolation and the assurance that we are not alone in suffering.
Of books by other authors you’ve read recently, which two impressed you most?
Red Dog Red Dog by Patrick Lane, for its beauty and poignancy. The image of 15-year-old Eddy with his thin, white arms rising above the water “like the necks of swans” haunts me still. Varieties of Disturbance by Lydia Davis: so refreshingly ironic, such clear understated revelations of truths.
Who is your favourite literary character and why?
Of many favourites, I guess I still would pick Hagar Shipley in Laurence’s The Stone Angel. The contrast between the interior and the exterior life is drawn so well — everyone except the reader thinks she has a heart of stone. Only we see her vulnerability, her remorse, her fear, her human longing and loneliness, her desire for love. It’s a brilliant piece of work.
ALEXANDRA POPOFF
SOPHIA TOLSTOY: A BIOGRAPHY (FREE PRESS)
Disturbed at how Leo Tolstoy’s wife has traditionally been portrayed by historians as shrill and greedy, Popoff set out to uncover the truth about the Russian aristocrat — and determined that not only was she a loving mother to Tolstoy’s 13 children, she was also his muse and confidante.
What was your initial inspiration?
Sophia Tolstoy’s biography started with a perceptive question asked by one of my listeners during a class I taught at the University of Saskatchewan, Extension Division.
Of books by other authors you’ve read recently, which two impressed you most?
I was impressed with Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s book Infidel, a personal story of a Somali woman born into Islam, and Every Man Dies Alone, a novel by a German writer Hans Fallada.
Who is your favourite literary character and why?
In my adult life I don’t really have favourite literary characters. In my early childhood, it was Pinocchio from the book The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi.
DAVE MARGOSHES
DIMENSIONS OF AN ORCHARD (BLACK MOSS PRESS)
Dave, of course, is prairie dog’s escaped restaurant critic and more importantly friend-for-life (whether he wants to be or not), who selfishly abandoned us for the scenic Saskatoon area a few months back. Margoshes has authored over a dozen books of poetry and fiction. With this collection (which is also nominated for the Poetry Award), Margoshes continues his exploration of the magical and mystical aspects of life.
What was your initial inspiration?
Most of the poems in Dimensions, and all of the poems in the first section, called Forms of Devotion,were written at St. Peter’s Abbey where the Sask Writers Guild holds writers’ and artists’ colonies. I don’t have a religious bone in my body, but being at St. Pete’s, with its black-robed monks, church bells and abundant Christian iconography, got me thinking biblically and theologically. That section, and the book as a whole, is all about creation — both creation mythology and the act of creation, art and otherwise.
Of books by other authors you’ve read recently, which two impressed you most?
Waiting for Joe by Sandra Birdsell and Cool Water by Dianne Warren. It’s not just that these two writers are from Regina or that they’re friends of mine, but that these are outstanding novels. I’m also knocked out by David Carpenter’s story collection Welcome to Canada and his A Hunter’s Confession, which I’m reading now.
If a Hollywood movie was made about your life, who would you like to play you and why?
Sterling Hayden. No, Burt Lancaster. No, Kirk Douglas. Wait a sec, Robert Mitchum. Jimmy Stewart? Gregory Peck? Hmmm, all these guys are dead. Is Bronson still available? And why? Isn’t it obvious?
Regina Book Award
TRACY HAMON
INTERRUPTIONS IN GLASS (COTEAU BOOKS)
In this poetry collection Hamon — a mother of two who works for the Saskatchewan Writers Guild who’s also a hairstylist — explores the challenges and pleasures of balancing family and professional responsibilities as a modern woman living in a complex world.
What was your initial inspiration?
The initial inspiration was my birthday — as strange as that sounds — and how I sat in the back yard watching the birds yank moss from between patio tiles. I began to realize that turning one year older was a colossal moment of reflection, making me take stock of what I’d done, not only in the last year, but throughout my life. The poems in my book try to develop that same heightened sense of attentiveness and expression, recreating scenes of watching and remembering, and hopefully function as fragments of flawed living pulled from the mind, like green moss plucked from between concrete slabs.
Of books by other authors you’ve read recently, which two impressed you most?
Rae Armantrout’s Versed,because the book challenges me to think about poetry differently — writing as well as reading. Also, Jane Hirshfield’s Nine Gates: Entering the Mind of Poetry — I reread it in preparation for a class I taught, and was again drawn into the richness of her language.
Who is your favourite literary character and why?
Lucy Maud Montgomery’s redheaded orphan Anne of Green Gables is one of my favourite characters. She’s imaginative, obstinate and marvellously doomed in many of her schemes. She’s also compassionate, zealous, clever and so completely charming that she’s an enduring character.
BRENDA NISKALA
FOR THE LOVE OF STRANGERS (COUTEAU BOOKS)
This short-story collection by Niskala is thematically linked by the presence of a young Prairie girl named Kathy. Set over a 20-year period from 1980-2002, the stories trace various events in her life in different regions of Saskatchewan and beyond.
What was your initial inspiration?
I sat down to write a poem — I viewed myself as a poet only at the time — and a short story poured out. The main character, Kathy, grabbed me and took me with her in this first story and in 16 other adventures. The inspiration for Kathy was a gutsy single mother I was acquainted with, but my character evolved into her own person almost immediately.
Of books by other authors you’ve read recently, which two impressed you most?
I just read a play by Saskatoon playwright Mansel Robinson, The Hand That Bites, and loved it! The man is brilliant, and funny — very funny. Being funny is important, much more important than being profound, but the play was profound too. Mansel pushed the boundaries of structure, something I’m really interested in. David Mitchell’s novel Cloud Atlas intrigued me as well. He not only produced an almost flawless nesting structure, he gave each of the stories their own cadence and language, and his characters connected with me too. Mitchell is capable of doing literary acrobatics while throwing kisses to a caring reader. I’d definitely read more of him.
If a Hollywood movie was made about your life, who would you like to play you and why?
If you could combine Goldie Hawn’s screwball ability to laugh at herself, Whoopi Goldberg’s wide-eyed innocence embedded in intelligence, Ben Kingsley’s calm take on wisdom, and Adam Beach’s sexy good looks, I’d vote for that person. Or Paul Gross in drag. Because that would be fun and he would be great. I’ve co-written a screenplay with Regina writer Barbara Kahan, and Gross is the standard-setter for films we like — so if you’re reading this, Paul, give me a call.
SANDRA BIRDSELL
WAITING FOR JOE (RANDOM HOUSE CANADA)
Facing financial ruin after a business setback, a man abandons his wife in a motorhome parked at a Regina Wal-Mart and begins hitchhiking to Fort McMurray to find work. Once on the road, he — and the wife he left behind — confront the failure of their middle-class dream.
Unfortunately, Sandra Birdsell was in the midst of a book tour and unavailable to comment for this story.
DIANNE WARREN
COOL WATER (HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHERS)
(See Book of the Year, above)