When I first began my project photographing writers, in Calgary in the late 90’s, Bob Stallworthy was my first subject. The photo above is from that shoot. The photograph is included in my first book of portraits First Chapter published by the Banff Centre Press.

————————————————————————————————————————-

LP: In Silhouette, Profiles of Alberta Writers is series of interviews but you can’t find them in print. How and why did Bob Stallworthy and Frontenac House decide to publish them online?

BS: In Silhouette began as a series of profiles written for the Writers Guild of Alberta’s magazine, WestWord. As the number of profiles written for WestWord grew, I started to think about what else I might do with the material. I made some very informal inquiries to several publishers in Alberta about turning the profiles into a conventional book. There was interest but the conversation always ended with the comment, “You should put these on a website.” I don’t have and didn’t have a website of my own.

I was talking with Rose Scollard, publisher of Frontenac House Ltd. and told her about the profiles and what I was getting as a response. Her initial response was similar. In frustration I said, “well, would you put them on your website?” To my surprise she said yes! From that point on In Silhouette began to take shape. To be fair to every publisher I talked to, including Frontenac House, I think the main concern was whether or not there would be a strong enough and prolonged enough market for a conventional book to make it viable.

LP: Will the collection eventually be printed?

BS: In the Frequently Asked Question section permission for use of the material has been given provided the specified conditions are met. Permission includes the downloading and printing off of a hard copy of the e-book. At the moment, there are no plans to publish In Silhouette as a conventional book. If I would ever consider this, I would negotiate with Frontenac House Ltd.

LP: What criteria do you use to establish someone as an Alberta writer? You’ve recently added an interview with Tom Wayman and one could say, despite the fact that he’s now teaching at the University of Calgary, he is considered a B.C. writer.

BS: There is no real firm criteria for determining who or who is not an Alberta writer. In my mind a person has to be a resident of Alberta for at least a full year before I would consider them an Alberta writer. Having said that, there are several writers who no longer live in Alberta who will be included in the e-book because they built the majority of their career in this province. I can make a strong case for each of those writers to be included in the e-book. In any event, the decision would always be on a case by case basis.

LP: Do you conduct your interviews, in person, by phone, email?

BS: The majority of the interviews have been done in person. A few have been done over the phone. I went out and bought a tape recorder that would plug into my phone line in order to be able to do interviews this way. So far, I’ve done one by e-mail. I much prefer the face to face interview but that isn’t always possible or practical.

LP: How often do you add profiles to the collection?

BS: There is no set schedule for the addition of profiles to the e-book. Because adding to In Silhouette means shutting the website down while making the changes, I only add profiles when I have a number of them done. When I’m ready I contact the web master and arrange to have them posted to the website.

LP: How much research do you find yourself doing before you conduct an interview?

BS: I’ve been around the writing community in Alberta for 23 years so I have come to know a lot of writers in that time. To date, all of the people I’ve profiled are people I’ve known well so the amount of hard research I’ve had to do is minimal. If I’m unsure of the titles of books or the number of books I will do a search to make sure I’ve got that kind of thing correct. Similarly, I will check on what awards may have been won, especially if I think I want to talk about a specific one. However, so far I’ve found that not knowing a lot about a person allows me to follow the conversation where ever it will go without having to impose my own knowledge on it.

LP: Have you or the publisher considered expanding the series to other provinces?

BS: There have been no formal discussions about expanding the e-book beyond the borders of Alberta. Obviously, I’ve fantasied about it. This is an ongoing project that could keep me writing until I get too old or too forgetful to do it any more.

LP: The profiles are wide ranging covering everything from biography to writing habits. As a writer yourself what do you enjoy hearing about the most?

BS: As a writer, hearing about the writing habits of others is obviously interesting. But, I must confess, I’m more interested in the person’s biography. It is the biography that tells me who that person is. I like knowing what issues each writer feels are really important in their lives and how or if those things influence their writing.

LP: During interviews people can sometimes reveal unexpected facets of their lives. Any moments like these that stand out for you?

BS: I think the most unexpected finding of doing these profiles is how many people who I’ve looked up to as writers have all of the same fears about their careers that I have about mine. Many of them have now over come those fears but when they started out, they were just as unsure of whether they could get the stories out there that they wanted to tell as I was about whether I could tell the stories I wanted to tell.

A second revelation is the sudden contrast between those writers who’ve had support from their families from the very beginning and those who have had to work at their craft with little or no emotional support from those closest to them. Part of the reason for this to stand out for me is that I’ve had total support from my wife since the very beginning. It is somewhat amazing to me that those who have not had any support have continued to work hard at their writing and have turned a tough situation into a successful one.

LP: Do you have any personal favourites among the profiles?

BS: As with my poetry, my favourite profile is usually the one that I’m working on at the time. There are some which have been a bit easier to do than others, simply because I knew that individual better than others. But no, in the end there isn’t one that I could pick out as being a favourite.

LP: Who can we look for in the future?

BS: I have such a long list of people who I would like to include in the e-book, I’m not prepared to give specific names right now. It might be a surprise to the individual to find their name mentioned here before I have had a chance to talk to them about being in the e-book. I can say that I have been in touch with some well known Alberta writers who have yet to appear in the e-book. I hope to include their profiles in the e-book as soon as possible.

LP: Give us a brief profile of Bob Stallworthy.

Bob Stallworthy-
After working as a social worker for a number of years, Bob left that field and began writing professionally at the age of 37. His poetry has been published in a number of magazines and anthologies in Canada. He has self-published two chapbooks of poetry, had a nonfiction chapbook on the history of the Old Y Community Center in Calgary and three full-length books of poetry published. His fourth book of poetry will be launched in April 2009. His work has been read on both CBC1 and CBC 2. He performed his poetry at the first Spoken Word International Writers Festival in Calgary in August 2004. His third book, Optics, Frontenac House Ltd., 2004 was short-listed for the W.O. Mitchell City of Calgary Book Prize, 2004.

Bob has been active in many areas of the writing community in Alberta over the last 23 years; participating on the Executives of several writers organizations, as a member of the Literary Festival Committee for the 1988 Winter Olympics, as a member of the Steering Committee for the first Banff-Calgary International Writers Festival, as the first Writers Guild of Alberta’s Regional Co-ordinator for the Southern Alberta Region, and the founding co-chair of the Calgary Freedom to Read Week Committee. In 2002 he was the co-recipient of the Calgary Freedom of Expression Award.

He has given workshops and readings in schools all over Alberta as well as readings in Sackville, NB, Halifax, NS and Toronto, ON. He was the Writer-in-Residence at the Drumheller Public Library in February 2005.

Bob is a full member of the League of Canadian Poets, a Lifetime member of the Writers Guild of Alberta and a member of Young Alberta Book Society.

LP: What, apart from the profiles, are you writing now?

BS: I’ve put aside writing the profiles in order to complete my 4th book of poetry entitled, Things That Matter Now. This book will be launched by Frontenac House in April 2009. Once I’ve finished working on it I’ll return to writing profiles.

LP: You’ve been involved in the Alberta writing world for a long time, any general thoughts on the state of the Alberta writing community?

BS: When I worked for the Writers Guild of Alberta in the late 1980s as Book Display Co-ordinator I was often asked, “Are there writers in Alberta?” And, of course, the answer was, “ Yes, there are a lot.” Back then I believe the display that I took around the province had less than 100 books in it. When I stopped traveling with the display after five years, in 1990, the number of books was well over 200. At that time, Alberta’s writers were just beginning to garner some real national attention, albeit that attention was still a bit hit and miss.

I think it is safe to say that the number of writers now working in this province has increased phenomenally. And now national and international recognition of Alberta writers is a regular occurrence. To the point, there are five Alberta writers short-listed for the Governor General’s Awards for 2008.

The increase in the number of writers and the number of awards being won needs to be viewed against a backdrop of political disinterest with regard to culture in general and writing in particular during the 1990s. To be sure, the Alberta Foundation for the Arts was maintained by the government of the day but the lack of interest was demonstrated year after year by the lack of increased funding for the Arts. During the same period of time there was a dramatic increase in the desire to control what was being published by Alberta publishers by controlling the funding that they received. Thankfully, this never really came to fruition.

Since the last provincial Conservative leaders’ race and the last election, and with the huge increases in revenue due to the oil patch, there seems to be an increased interest in government support of the Arts in general. The current Minister of Community Spirit seems to be making a concerted effort to show support for the cultural industry in general and writing specifically in the province. In spite of the increase in optimism, unfortunately, for Alberta writers, over the last few years a number of Alberta publishers have moved out of the province or been swallowed up by bigger organizations. This does make getting published by an Alberta publisher that much more difficult.

Despite all of the problems that seem to still be associated with a genuine support of the Arts in general and writers specifically, I believe there is good reason to be optimistic. I certainly don’t expect the number of writers in the province to decrease nor the attention that they receive.

Carr’s grave marker surrounded by pine cones, pens, pencils, brushes and other items left by visitors.

A sample of Carr’s writing at her grave site.

A note and crayon left at the site

Emily Carr house

See below for details.

The Search for The Great BC NOVEL or NOVELLA

Short List Judges: KATHY PAGE and KAREN X. TULCHINSKY
Final Judge: JACK HODGINS
Deadline: May 31, 2009
Entry fee - $35

GOAL: To inspire and encourage the growth and appetite for regionally based literary     fiction that arises from BC landscape, history, culture, language, vision and people.

GUIDELINES:
✒ Open to all writers living in British Columbia.
✒ Enter the 1st chapter ( max 30 pages) of your unpublished literary novel or novella set in British Columbia. The novel must have been completed.
✒ Include covering letter, summary (max 8 pages), short bio, name, address, ms title, phone number and email address. Ms must be double-spaced. Include SASE if you do not have email.
✒ Entries accepted or submitted for publication elsewhere are ineligible.
✒ No submissions accepted by email.
✒ No length restrictions.
✒No entries will be returned.
✒Winner and short list finalists will be notified by email (or SASE if provided). They must be able to provide full manuscript upon request.
✒ Submissions must be postmarked no later than May 31st, 2009. A short list will be announced      Fall 2009. The winning ms will be announced by December 2009.
✒Publication Fall 2010.
The winner will receive:
● A publishing contract with Mother Tongue Publishing.
● $1,000 advance.
● A regional book tour.
●Write-ups in local, regional and national papers.
●Publication of the winning novel in a beautiful trade paper edition.

Mail entries to: The Great BC Novel/Novella Search
Mother Tongue Publishing, 290 Fulford-Ganges Rd.
Salt Spring Island, BC V8K 2K6
Novella info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novella

JUDGES –
Jack Hodgins lives on Vancouver Island where, until recently, he taught fiction writing at the University of Victoria. His novels and story collections include: Spit Delaney’s Island, The Invention of the World, Innocent Cities, Broken Ground, Distance, and Damage Done by the Storm. A Passion for Narrative (a guide to writing fiction) is used in classrooms and writing groups across Canada and Australia. Hodgins’ fiction has won the Governor General’s Award, the Canada-Australia Prize, and the Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize, amongst others. He has given readings, talks, or workshops in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and several European countries, and has taught an annual fiction workshop in Mallorca, Spain. He is the recipient of the Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence in British Columbia. www.jackhodgins.ca.
Kathy Page, who moved from the UK to BC in 2001, is the author of six novels including Alphabet short-listed for a Governor General’s award in 2005, The Story of My Face, long-listed for the Orange Prize in 2002, and the recently reissued  Frankie Styne & the Silver Man. Her themes are loss, survival, and transformation: the alchemy by means of which a bad hand becomes a good chance. She is a prize-winning short-story writer as well as a novelist, has written for television and radio, and was a winner of The Traveller Writing Award. She has taught fiction writing at Universities in England, Finland, Estonia and Canada and held residencies in a variety of institutions and communities, including secondary schools, a fishing village and a men’s prison. www.KathyPage.info
Karen X. Tulchinsky lives in Vancouver and her novel, The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky, was a finalist for the Toronto Book Award and winner of The Vancouver Public Library’s ‘One Book One Vancouver 2008’. Tulchinsky’s screenplay adaptation of The Five Books of Moses Lapinsky is currently in development. Her first book, In Her Nature won the 1995 VanCity Book Prize. She is the author of Love Ruins Everything and its sequel, Love and Other Ruins. A graduate of the Canadian Film Centre, Karen is a writer on ‘The Guard’ for Global TV. She wrote an episode of ‘Robson Arms’ for CTV and co-wrote ‘Floored By Love’ for City TV’s series, ‘Stories About Love’. She is currently writing a new novel, The Shoemaker’s Daughter, set between 1941 and 1977 in Russia, Vancouver and Jerusalem. www.karenxtulchinsky.com

Info:submissions@mothertonguepublishing.com                www.mothertonguepublishing.com

Posters, books and postcards for the launch.

Publisher and editor Mona Fertig performed MC duties

Kyeren Regehr reads.

Donna Kane reads

Derk Wynand reads

Peter Morin reads

Crowd listens to Maleea Acker

Marilyn Bowering reads

Patricia Young reads

Carla Funk stands, waiting for her turn, she was the final reader of the evening

Audience members follow along in their copies of Rocksalt

Poet Yvonne Blomer handled the MC duties.

Zach Wells reads

The audience at the Black Stilt cafe listens to Zach Wells.

Lyle Neff reads.

Steven Price reads

Alan Wilson reads

Kaleb , being held by mom Rachel Lebowitz, keeps an eye on dad Zach Wells (foreground) and Steven Price

Zach Wells signs a book for writer Harold Hoefle. Hoefle is just back from launching his new novel The Mountain Clinic in Montreal

Publisher Richard Olafson and Jim Christy

A selection of Christy’s books including the newest Nine O’Clock Gun

The Trio Espresso warmed up the crowd and backed up Christy during his reading.

Jim Christy marks the passages he’ll read.

Jim Christy talking to the crowd.

Jim Christy Reads from Nine O’Clock Gun

Carved by Spencer Denton

B. P. Nichol Lane off Huron Street south of Bloor.

Matt Cohen Park at the corner of Spadina and Bloor

Plaque in Matt Cohen Park

Gwendolyn MacEwen Park at Walmer and Lowther is a memorial to the poet

A bust of the poet and a portion of one of her poems.

Brunswick Avenue, a popular street for writers to reside.

Dooney’s Cafe at 511 Bloor , until recently a popular spot for writers to gather and the inspiration for the online site Dooneys Cafe, however, the owner sold the restaurant and is now in the process of opening a new spot The Alex Live at 296 Brunswick Avenue which Max Fawcett in the current issue of Toronto Life is touting as the new spot for writers to hang out.

The Alex Live

LP: You’ve just started a Writer in Residence gig at the Saskatoon Public Library. How long will you be there?

JOB: The position last nine months from the beginning of September 2008 to the end of May 2009.

LP: Why did you decide to go to Saskatoon?

JOB: I grew up on the prairies, in Calgary, but except for short visits to see members of my family, I have not spent any substantial time here since 1978. I saw coming to Saskatoon as an opportunity to reacquaint myself with prairie life—and, yes, prairie winters—and to live somewhere new. Though I have visited the city several times, I have not been in it since 1990. Also, there is a small ancestral connection, in that my maternal great-grandfather was part of the Northwest Field Force that came west from Ontario to suppress 1885 Rebellion—what they call the “resistance” here—at Batoche, an hour north. I did not realize it at the time I applied, but I think, subconsciously, I wanted to steep myself in my plains origins.

LP: How much time will be devoted to working with local writers?

JOB: Forty percent of my time—or two days per week—will be given to office hours at the library and the rest is for my own writing projects.

LP: As a student you studied with poets Garry Geddes, Robin Skeleton, and others. Is there anything you learned about working or teaching from your teachers that you’ll try to pass along?

JOB: One of the most important lessons any writer learn is how to write for the reader rather than for one’s self. Realizing how someone else reads and comprehends your work enables you to write in anticipation in order to have them more perfectly grasp your intentions. I learned this most fully in Robin Skelton’s classes and especially from my fellow students. Also, too many writers begin by believing that they have messages to impart. I feel that we are engaged in creating aesthetic experiences, where what is conveyed is visceral as well as cognitive, as sensory, emotive, and pleasurable.

LP: What will you be working on personally?

JOB: I have three major projects preoccupying me at present. The first is a book of poems constructed using traditional verse forms. In the same way that poets embraced vers libre a century ago, I want to see how set forms can open up and transform my voice. The second is a complex book-length project about three figures of the New York art world of the mid-twentieth century: Paul Cadmus (a painter), George Platt Lynes (a photographer), and Lincoln Kirstein (impresario and cofounder of the New York City Ballet). All three men were gay and knew each other as part of a loosely knit, emergent “queer” community; my interest is in how their different aesthetic concerns came to conceive of the (male) body. Third, I am also at a watershed moment as a poet in that the copyright of most of my earlier books has been returned to me. I can now more actively pursue putting together a new and selected poems as a retrospective glance back at nearly thirty years of work.

LP: Are there particular writers in Saskatoon that you’re looking forward to meeting or hanging out with?

JOB: The community is very large and I am looking forward to meeting many of the poets there, including Elizabeth Philips, whom I know slightly, and Sylvia LeGris, the new editor of Grain, Saskatchewan’s answer to The Malahat Review.

LP: You’ve been the editor of The Malahat Review now for almost five years. Will you be editing the magazine from Saskatoon or have you given up those duties?

JOB: I am taking a partial leave of absence, in that I will not be involved in the day-to-day editing and management of the magazine. When I left Victoria at the end of August, the fall and winter issues were almost fully in place. However, during the spring of 2009, I will be completing the annual funding applications of various provincial and national arts agencies—or, as Yann Martel said to me recently, the most unpleasant part of the job. I decided to complete them during my leave because I’m the one will have to live with the results of these applications upon my return to Victoria in June 2009. Also, I’m the one on staff most conversant with the application process, having completed such applications every year since 1989.

LP: What’s the best thing about being editor of the Review?

JOB: Before I became editor, I coedited Arc, a poetry journal in Ottawa. The Malahat allows me to work with fiction and creative nonfiction as well, which has expanded my scope. Also, because of the magazine’s reputation, the caliber of the writing I am able to publish is much finer. It’s long been Canada’s iconic literary magazine, and it shows in the writing we receive.

LP: What is coming up in future issues of the Review that we should be looking for?

JOB: In December, we are publishing a theme issue called The Green Imagination, which examines how writers engage aesthetically with environmental issues. It’s a longer issue than normal, 160 rather than 112 pages and shows Canadian writers to be very troubled about the long-term prognosis for the planet. It was originally conceived of as a sesquicentennial tribute to B.C., but is rather more cautionary than celebratory. Apart from this, there is no other theme issues planned. They are important to do on occasion, but I don’t believe that writers benefit from having too many of them on the horizon. General issues offer writers much more scope to publish a wider spectrum of work and are much more emphatically “participatory democracies.” There is nothing more alienating for writers than to be faced with endless back-to-back theme issues on topics that may not be relevant to them. The Malahat’s quartet of general issues in 2009 will nevertheless feature our usual annual contests: Long Poem, Far Horizons, and Creative Non-Fiction. Our preoccupation will remain one of excellence.

LP: You were Poetry Editor at Signature Editions until last spring. Are you continuing with any book editing duties on a freelance basis?

JOB: While I am in Saskatoon, I will not be taking on any freelance projects, but once I am back in Victoria, I will definitely accept any that might come my way. I enjoy this kind of work enormously and believe that I have a talent for it. It’s time-consuming work; on average it takes me about twelve to fifteen hours to work through a poetry manuscript. I charge $60 per hour, which might seem steep, but it is a competitive rate.

LP: As an editor you’re aware of what’s new on the publishing front. What books are you looking forward to seeing?

JOB: I see so much new writing that sometimes I get overwhelmed by it, but new books that I am looking forward to reading are by Ottawa poet, Craig Poile, one of Canada’s technically proficient writers. He’s got a new book coming out with Goose Lane next year. Also, Saskatoon’s Barbara Klar has a new book of poems with Brick called Cypress.

LP: You grew up in Alberta, lived and worked in Ottawa, have been in Victoria for several years and will be living in Saskatchewan for the next year. Any thoughts on how the cities are different for a writer?

JOB: What I liked most about Ottawa when I first moved there in 1986 is that its writing scene seemed entirely free of hierarchy. It was refreshing. Saskatoon reminds me of Ottawa in this regard; it’s the friendliest place that I have ever lived, and the writing community reflects this. Thistledown Press, which is located down the street from where I am living, recently launched four first books of poetry, with an audience of over 150. I cannot think of anywhere else where such a turn-out would occur, especially for first-time writers. A transplanted Vancouver poet whom I have just met told me that she’s had had a better chance to find an audience for her work in Saskatoon than she did in B.C., where she was one among so many writers and where the arts are too compromised by the politics of reputation-building. My experience of being in Victoria has been so coloured by my position as editor of The Malahat Review that I probably don’t have a terribly accurate view of what it is to be a writer there. Certainly, I felt welcomed when I arrived and realize I am in an enviable position—though I have lost count of how many writers across the country have introduced themselves by telling me that the magazine has rejected their work. Maybe a rejection by the Malahat is a mark of distinction or at least a rite of passage.

LP: Last question. That old standby. What are you reading now?

JOB: So much of what I read it is determined by the dictates of my Cadmus-Lynes-Kirstein project. Right now I am reading a short biography of George Balanchine, the founding artistic director of the New York City Ballet; a book of essays of Lincoln Kirstein; and George Chauncey’s Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of the Gay Male World, 1890–1940. I have just finished Lorna Crozier’s The Bones in Their Wings, her lovely book of ghazals, with an explication of the rules of this form, and the Collected Poems of Wilfred Owen. Yesterday, I just started Anne Marie MacDonald’s Fall on Your Knees.