On My Book Shelf

Welcome to a new regular blog feature! ON MY BOOKSHELF asks QWF authors what they're currently reading, perusing, consulting, reconsidering.

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LICIA CANTON

"Here is the pile of books on my night table . . . some I consult occasionally or reread excerpts, others I have not picked up in over a year but have every intention of finishing eventually (Harry Potter!!!). I am currently reading Cockroach. I also have a pile on the floor next to my night table – books I plan to read. Needless to say, I haven’t had much time to read lately!"

Cockroach by Rawi Hage
The Devil Out There by Julie Keith
Meditations for Women Who Do Too Much by Anne Wilson Schaef
God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
The Fragrant Garden by Day’s Lee
Petits et grands bonheurs du mariage by Helen Exley
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Il Bottone by Elettra Bedon
Marrying Hungary by Linda Leith
Blue Ashes by Jean-Paul Daoust
My Sister, My Self by Vikki Stark
Chicken Soup for the Sister’s Soul 2
Origine des Méridiens by Paul Bélanger

LICIA CANTON is a Montreal writer, literary critic and translator. She is co-editor of the Canadian literature page of Bibliosofia and editor-in-chief of Accenti Magazine. She is also the author of Almond Wine and Fertility, a collection of short stories.

DEBUT: On My Bookshelf

Welcome to a new regular blog feature! ON MY BOOKSHELF asks QWF authors what they're currently reading, perusing, consulting, reconsidering.

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H. NIGEL THOMAS

"I am in something of a flurry (guess that means flustered hurry) to finish proofing the manuscript of what I hope would be my next novel before I set off for Guatemala…

I have just finished re-reading War and Peace. Not sure I would have been able to find the time to do so if I were still a full-time professor. I'm overwhelmed by the vastness of Tolstoy's canvas and it's good to be reminded that the tyranny of power and the lust for wealth have always been with us. War too: a scourge at the beginning of the nineteenth century, an even greater scourge at the beginning of the twenty-first.

I'll be taking Rana Bose's The Fourth Canvas to Guatemala. There I hope to read Marquez's Cien Años de Soledad and Asturias's Viento Fuerte in Spanish. Why? To justify spending two months away from winter!"

H. NIGEL THOMAS grew up on the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent, spent 18 years teaching at Université Laval in Quebec City, and now lives and writes in Montreal. His most recent novel is Return to Acadia (TSAR, 2007).

DEBUT: The Writing Room

Ever wonder where writers write, how they write and why, if their physical writing space is private – or if it’s mobile, the neighbourhood internet café or university library?

This week kicks off THE WRITING ROOM, a regular Blog feature profiling a QWF member’s writing space and writing process.

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AMI SANDS BRODOFF

Ami's writing room, upstairs in her NDG home.

Here is my “room of one’s own,” my haven and sanctuaire. I savour my solitude here, like water or food, and fight to protect the space around my writing, always challenging with the splintering claims on my time. All of my work deals in some way with the tension between inside and outside: I always write with the door shut tight, but with a view out my spacious window. I gaze at the ever-changing streetscape, today the inky, lace-like silhouettes of winter-warped trees, the silvery snow and pewter sky, and dream and write, write and dream. Daydreaming is essential: when I’m relaxed, I trick myself into getting started, always terrifying. What’s inside can be as frightening—more so—than what is outside. Most of my fiction springs from obsession: what keeps me up at night, what disturbs me, what I can’t stop thinking about.

I cherish my privacy, yet surround myself with reminders of my loved ones: photos, art, poems, and treasures, which each possess their own story. I suit up for work in a cozy dressing gown and fuzzy slippers, fuelled by rich, aromatic coffee and a refresher of mineral water and a splash of whatever juice we have on hand.

These days, I’m writing and imagining into a new novel about a brother and sister, orphans whose parents—a travel writer and photographer—drowned while on assignment. While the siblings are in Malta, trying to uncover what happened to their parents, a Libyan migrant floats onto the rocky shore, barely alive. Daunted, yet hopeful, I sip my coffee and gaze out that window…and now back to work.

AMI SANDS BRODOFF is an award-winning novelist and short story writer. Her novel, The White Space Between, will be released in the U.S. this spring. She is also the author of the volume of stories, Bloodknots, and the novel, Can You See Me?

Amisandsbrodoff.com

chez-ami.blogspot.com

Photo: Tobias Atkin

VALENTINE’S DAY EXCLUSIVE

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QWF Authors Dish About Romance

I asked several QWF contributors to Lust for Life: Tales of Sex and Love some all-important questions about romance, pick-up lines and, of course, Valentine’s Day:

~ Claude Lalumière ~

What's the most romantic thing you have ever said to somebody – or somebody has said to you? I don't know about "ever" but one that comes to mind is, in the middle of a party, a girl whispering to me, "When you're ready, just grab my hand and drag me to bed."

Use "lust for life" in a pick-up line: I got nothing. I don't use pick-up lines.

What will you be doing on Valentine's Day? Writing? Unless I get a better offer...


Claude...and a good, lusty book.







~ Elise Moser ~

What's the most romantic thing you have ever said to somebody – or somebody has said to you? The most romantic thing anyone ever said to me was when, during a first – but long-awaited – intimate encounter, a lover murmured "Mon amour" to me. A common enough expression, but context, and tone of voice, are everything.

Use "lust for life" in a pick-up line: I am so not a pick-up line kind of girl. Although if someone said, "Hey, I just bought ten copies of Lust for Life to give to all my friends," it would certainly get my attention.

What will you be doing on Valentine's Day? I'll be hanging out with my favourite kids, four and six years old. I suspect there will be some holiday-appropriate chocolate involved, and we may even try to make a heart-shaped no-bake cheesecake (go, Martha Stewart!).


Elise & Khristina

khjjhjhjhjhjhjhjhjhjh~ Mark Paterson ~

What's the most romantic thing you have ever said to somebody – or somebody has said to you? "No, pour the molasses HERE."

Use "lust for life" in a pick-up line: There is no documented case of this ever working, but, when desperate enough, I've heard a few Lust for Life contributors try, "Is that a copy of Lust for Life (Véhicule Press) in your pants or did I only imagine myself in them?" Frankly, I think it's the overly scholarly use of the publisher's name in parentheses that turns people off, but we are contractually obliged to do so when using the book for libidinous purposes.

What will you be doing on Valentine's Day? This Valentine's Day will mark the ten-year anniversary of me proposing to my wife, so I'm thinking a heart-shaped box of chocolates from Pharmaprix and some reminiscing about how romantic I was a decade ago might suffice. Should that fail to give the impression that I've actually made an effort, I've got a few more tricks up my sleeve, and it all starts with Air Supply and sweet, sweet peach schnapps.



Mark & his wife, Lynn:

“I 'm all out of love, I'm so lost without you…” Schnapp!

~ Nairne Holtz ~

What's the most romantic thing you have ever said to somebody – or somebody has said to you? During a business trip my lover once spent hours at a perfumerie in Italy that was originally run by monks in the Middle Ages trying to find the perfect scent for me. She succeeded, and I've worn it ever since. I prefer the romantic gesture to words, perhaps in part because I'm writer. I'm too aware of the aesthetic I'm creating and the way in which my words-which may appear to be a revelation-are, in fact, a mask. In addition, I find it excruciating if a lover expresses their adoration of me in terms I find clichéd or corny or sentimental.

Use "lust for life" in a pick-up line: I couldn't invent a pick-up line as memorable as the most memorable one I ever received, which was: "I really want to have sex with you, but I can't right now because I'm coming down off heroin."

What will you be doing on Valentine's Day? Nothing remarkable: coffee, croissants, reading the paper, doing laundry, getting groceries, and, of course, having sex – a perfect day.

Nairne & Lucy

Lust for Life: Tales of Sex and Love
Edited by Claude Lalumière and Elise Moser
Véhicule Press
www.vehiculepress.com

To find out more about Claude, Elise, Mark and Nairne,

check out the QWF Literary Database:
quebecbooks.qwf.org

VALENTINE’S DAY EXCLUSIVE

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Q&A with Mad Man Peter Dubé

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Peter will be teaching a writing workshop in March:

SHORT FICTION
4 Windows and a Door
Thursdays, 6 to 8 p.m.
March 5 to April 30
www.qwf.org/workshops/

I recently had a chat with Peter about his workshop, “the short story,” love & desire and forgiveness via the Napa Valley!

Q. The subtitle for your workshop is 4 Windows and a Door. Is that a pick-up line -- ie, Would you like to come back to my place – it's got 4 windows and a door (wink, wink)?

My goodness, I’m almost ashamed…this is one of the few times I didn’t intend a suggestive double-entendre. Another missed opportunity!

But all kidding aside, the title is a way of talking about the many, many rich and complex shapes what we call – for convenience’s sake – “the short story” can take, and a way of looking at the basic techniques that allow a writer and/or reader “into” or “out of” a text, or provide new “views” of material. (Hence, the “doors” and “windows.”)

I think that by focusing on those sorts of things, a writer positions him or herself well for exploiting the great range short fiction can offer without taking anything as “given,” or limiting the possibilities of where he or she might go. My belief is that if you post a few decent guideposts along the way, a reader will follow you just about anywhere. (And that isn’t meant suggestively either…)

Q. You're the editor of Madder Love. Illustrate the difference between mad love and madder love. What about maddest love? Do you speak from experience? What are you like when you're a mad man in love?

Well, in actual fact, the title of Madder Love isn’t all that straightforward to summarize…It’s not a simple descriptive or comparative.

The shortest way to explain the title choice is by discussing the overt reference it makes to a book by André Breton, Mad Love. In that book Breton details his obsessive relationship with (and shameful treatment of) a young woman in early-twentieth century Paris. It is a great book and explores (among other things) the power of passionate love to transform people’s lives and experience of the world.

Greatness as a writer aside, however, Breton, had a lot of problems with love and desire that didn’t fit into rather conventional and/or exclusively heterosexual patterns. So… when I decided to put together an anthology exploring the overlaps and resonances that I saw operating between gay men’s writing and surrealism I thought it might be fun to give it a title that both thumbed its nose of Breton’s homophobia and underlined the “transgressive” nature of some of the kinds of desire and sexual exploration with which the book would deal, like cruising, anonymous encounters and so forth. It was a way of acknowledging my debt to surrealism and underlining my – let’s just say, disagreement – with some of its founders’ attitudes.

As to your question about my personal experiences of the more excessive aspects of love and desire, the short answer is, of course I’ve been there…I’m a writer after all…and as to what I’m like in those situations, well, there really isn’t enough time to go into so deeply tangled a narrative. That could take pages and pages…and has.

Q. What's the most romantic thing you have ever said to somebody – or somebody has said to you?

Well, since I’ve been deeply…not to say “madly,” in love with the same man for fifteen years now, there have been a lot of unbelievably sweet things said and done, so I’m not sure I want to single one out now that I’m on the spot like this…plus, to tell the truth, I’m sufficiently in love that I don’t necessarily want to violate our shared life and intimacy. (Without the veil of fiction, I mean.)

Q. What will you be doing on Valentine's Day?

Another moment of shame for me here, I’m afraid…unfortunately I won’t be with my honey because I’ll be out of town attending a big writers’ conference. And, I’m very pleased we’ve been together long enough to know he will forgive me for this.

That said, I will definitely be bringing home a super special bottle of wine to share for our belated Valentine’s Day celebration. A really good Napa creates an awful lot of good will in our house.


PETER DUBÉ is the author of At the Bottom of the Sky, a collection of linked stories, and the novel Hovering World. Editor of the anthology Madder Love; editorial board member of Espace Sculpture and contributing editor for Ashé Journal.

www.peterdube.com

FEBRUARY 21: QWF Night at the Theatre!

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Tableau d'Hôte presents

Haunted House explores the life of A.M. Klein, one of Quebec’s most lauded English-language writers (and the artist we honour every year with the A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry).

40 QWF members
can attend a special performance of the play
followed by a reception at a reduced price on
Saturday, February 21, 8:00 p.m.

After the play join your QWF colleagues for a
Q&A with the playwright, Endre Farkas,
Usher Caplan, Klein’s biographer,
and the actors.

There will be a cash bar and,
in true QWF schmooze fashion, prizes!

Adrian King Edwards of The Word will hold drawings for:

A signed first edition of Klein's novel, The Second Scroll
Usher Caplan's biography of Klein, Like One That Dreamed
A Rich Garland: Poems for A.M. Klein, edited by Seymour Mayne and B. Glen Rotchin

Only 40 tickets are available, first come-first served, at a reduced price of $20.

QWF gets $6 for each ticket sold

so you’ll be doing a little something for us too!

Haunted House is a poignant and innovative journey into the labyrinth of A.M. Klein's mind, soul and times. Klein was born a century ago to Jews who fled the Ukraine to Montreal. Complex and conflicted, Klein grew up as a "Jew boy" in the ghetto streets of Montreal where he "dreamt pavement into pleasant bible-land" and battled the nightmares of private and worldly hells. Seamlessly weaving his own text with Klein's poems, fiction, journals and editorials, Farkas creates an evocative, multi-layered play about the "realities" Klein lived in.

Wednesday, February 18 - Thursday, March 5
THE STUDIO

Segal Centre for Performing Arts

5170, ch. de la Côte-Ste-Catherine

QWF Special Night:

Saturday, February 21, 8:00 p.m.
Reserve your tickets ASAP: (514) 933-0878

Calling all budding short story writers, memoirists, journalists, critics, zen poets

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Spring 2009
Quebec Writers’ Federation Workshops

EIGHT-WEEK EVENING WORKSHOPS

RE-VISION:
SHAPING SHORT STORIES
MONDAYS, 6 to 8 p.m.
March 2 to April 20
Led by Ami Sands Brodoff, author of two novels, The White Space Between and Can You See Me?, and Bloodknots, a collection of short stories, shortlisted for the ReLit Award; winner, Pushcart Prize; contributor to the Globe & Mail, Gazette, and national magazines.

THE MUSIC OF THE SENSES:
MAKING YOUR POETRY VIVID
TUESDAYS, 6 to 8 p.m.
March 3 to April 21
Led by Mary di Michele, author of eight books of poetry and two novels; shortlisted for A.M. Klein Prize for Poetry and and The Trillium Prize.

MEMOIR:
THE ART OF PERSONAL WRITING
TUESDAYS, 8 to 10 p.m.
March 3 to April 21
Led by Joel Yanofsky, winner, Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, and Canadian Jewish Book Award. Columnist for the Gazette; reviews and articles in Canadian Geographic, Walrus, Village Voice, Chatelaine, Globe and Mail.

CREATIVE NON-FICTION:
THE ART OF FACT
WEDNESDAYS, 6 to 8 p.m.
March 4 to April 29 (no meeting April 8)
Led by Elaine Kalman Naves, two-time winner of the Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, winner of two Canadian Jewish Book Awards and a Canadian Literary Award for Personal Essay.

PITCH, PUBLISH AND GET PAID:
HOW TO SUCCEED AS A FREELANCE WRITER
WEDNESDAYS, 8 to 10 p.m.
March 4 to April 29 (no meeting April 8)
Led by Craig Silverman, winner, Arthur Rowse Award for Press Criticism, 2008 Canadian Magazine Award; columnist, Globe and Mail, Columbia Journalism Review; published in New York Times, Montreal Gazette, Toronto Star, Report on Business Magazine. Author of two books: Regret the Error and Mafiaboy (with Michael Calce).

SHORT FICTION:
4 WINDOWS AND A DOOR
THURSDAYS, 6 to 8 p.m.
March 5 to April 30 (no meeting April 9)
Led by Peter Dubé, author of At the Bottom of the Sky, a collection of linked stories, and the novel Hovering World. Editor of the anthology Madder Love; editorial board member of Espace Sculpture and contributing editor for Ashé Journal.

WRITING ABOUT THE ARTS – TWO FOUR-WEEK SESSIONS

$10 discount if you sign up for both!

Session #1
CLARITY OF EXPRESSION:
COMMUNICATING ARTISTIC VISION
THREE THURSDAYS (March 5, 19 and 26, 8 to 10 p.m.)
SATURDAY (March 14, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.)
Led by Philip Szporer, freelance writer, filmmaker and lecturer. Scholar in Residence at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival; 1999 Pew Fellowship for the National Dance/Media Project, UCLA; 20 years, CBC Radio.

Session #2
SO YOU WANT TO BE A CRITIC?
FOUR THURSDAYS, 8 to 10 p.m.
April 2, 16, 23 and 30 (no meeting April 9)
Led by John Griffin, seven years as Gazette pop music critic; current Gazette film critic.

INTENSIVE WORKSHOPS

EMPTY-HEADED WRITING (offered in collaboration with the Montreal Zen Poetry Festival)
FRIDAY, March 6
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Front Hall, Main Floor, Newman Centre, 3484 Peel Street
Led by Peter Levitt, author of Fingerpainting on the Moon: Writing and Creativity as a Path to Freedom, and ten books of poetry. Winner, Lannan Foundation Literary Award in Poetry; teaches in the UBC Creative Writing Optional Residency MFA Program.

NON-LINEAR NARRATIVES & MULTI-MEDIA POETICS:
AN INTRODUCTION TO ELECTRONIC LITERATURE
SATURDAY, March 28
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Atwater Library, 2nd-floor computer room (Room 2)
Led by J. R. Carpenter, winner of the 2008 QWF Carte Blanche Quebec Award and two-time winner of the CBC/QWF Quebec Short Story Competition (2003, 2005). Her electronic literature has been presented in Toronto, Finland, and Istanbul, and online. Her first novel, Words the Dog Knows, was published in 2008.

MONOLOGUE BOOT CAMP:
WRITE IT! DEVELOP IT! DELIVER IT!
SUNDAY, March 15, 3-7 p.m.
FRIDAY, March 20, 1-5 p.m
SATURDAY, March 21, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
SUNDAY, March 22, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
Off Interarts Studio, 5145 St. Laurent, Montreal
Led by Bryden MacDonald, acclaimed director, playwright, dramaturge and teacher, shortlisted for Governor General's Award for Drama; nominated for Chalmers and Dora Awards. Plays produced across Canada, U.S. and Europe. Latest play, With Bated Breath, opens at Centaur Theatre on April 21.

A MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS:
TIPS ON WRITING FOR THE MAGAZINE MARKET
SATURDAY, April 18
10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Led by Arjun Basu, editorial director of Spafax, overseeing publications in both print and digital media; editor-in- chief of enRoute, Air Canada’s inflight magazine (2001-2007), two-time winner, world’s best in-flight magazine; winner, North American travel magazine of the year; member, National Magazine Awards Foundation board.

MARKETING AND THE ART OF THE PITCH
or
PROFESSIONAL SECRETS OF A TRAVEL JOURNALIST
SATURDAY, May 9
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Lac-Brome Community Centre, 270 Victoria St, Lac-Brome QC
Led by Cleo Paskal, winner of seventeen major travel writing awards, including—twice—the Grand Prize from the North American Travel Journalists Association; published in The Economist, Sunday Times and Weekly World News; current weekly travel columnist for the Toronto Star.

Full Workshop Descriptions and Bios of Workshop Leaders:
www.qwf.org/workshops

Workshops take place at the QWF office, Suite 3, Atwater Library unless otherwise indicated.

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Eight-week workshops: $170 per course ($150 for QWF members)
All-day Saturday workshops $75
Four-week sessions $90 ($80 for members)
Call to register and for cancellation policy

PAYMENT INFORMATION

Send cheques to:
Quebec Writers’ Federation (unless otherwise indicated)
1200 Atwater, Suite 3
Montreal H3Z 1X4

By PayPal (additional fee – please check with office) or by cash at the QWF office (by appointment): CALL (514) 933-0878 or email info@qwf.org

QWF gratefully acknowledges the assistance of the Canada Council for the Arts.