Find out how writers think
Entrevues
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Trajectory & Trace: An Interview with Sina Queyras
Interviewed by Tanis MacDonald
Tanis MacDonald: I saw on Facebook that the editor of Poetry, Don Share, posted a photo of you at the podium in Chicago, where you had gone to give the inaugural reading at the 24th annual International Virginia Woolf Conference in June of this year. It was the caption above the photo that caught my eye: “I’m happy to answer questions, interrogation, accusations…” Did you say this and what was the result? ...
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An Interview with Molly Peacock
Interviewed by Jason Guriel
Jason Guriel: Do you read much contemporary poetry these days? Who are some of your favourite younger poets?
Molly Peacock: I do, indeed. Here’s a random list of some younger or emerging poets who always interest me: from the U.S.: Rebecca Wolff, Amber Flora Thomas, Jonathan Weinert, Alessandra Lynch, Richard Newman, Andrea Carter Brown, and Amy Clark. In Canada: Sonnet L’Abbe, Jake Mooney, George ...
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An Interview with Souvankham Thammavongsa
Interviewed by Quentin Mills-Fenn
QM: You’ve published three books in almost ten years, starting with your first, Small Arguments. What are you doing when you’re not writing poetry?
ST: Ten years is a long time to be caring about something, to be caring about doing something, isn’t it? In other fields, you’d have a lot of money by now.
I wrote and finished Small Arguments while I was an undergraduate at the University of Toronto. I ...
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An Interview with Peter Midgley
Interviewed by Sharon Caseburg
Sharon Caseburg: What brought you to Canada? What were your reasons for staying?
Peter Midgley: I came to do a PhD at the U of A and got offered a job right after I finished. And well, here I am, and I guess now Edmonton is home.
SC: After all this time in Canada, do you still get homesick for South Africa?
PM: I do miss South Africa, but I miss the country of my birth, Namibia, too. I miss the melody ...
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An Interview with RC Weslowski
Interviewed by Steve Locke
In the realm of slam poetry, few have as long a resumé as Randy Jacobs, a.k.a. RC Weslowski. As a member of the Vancouver Poetry Slam community since its early days in the late ’90s, Weslowski has not only been integral to the longevity of Canada’s oldest poetry slam community, but he has also won over communities across the nation. Representing Vancouver seven times at national competitions, he has even ...
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An Interview with Carmine Starnino
Interviewed by Tim Bowling
Tim Bowling: You set out early on, back in the mid-’90s, to be a poet and a critic. You’ve maintained a place in both worlds when many poets opt out of the critical side of things. Have you been pleased with the way you’ve maintained that balance?
Carmine Starnino: For the most part, yes. But I can’t say that I’ve had any choice in the matter. I have no opt-out button when it comes to writing criticism. ...
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An Interview with Ken Babstock
Interviewed by Sharon Caseburg
Sharon Caseburg: Congratulations on last year’s Griffin Prize win for Methodist Hatchet (House of Anansi Press, 2011). Over the course of your career you’ve been nominated for or have won several prestigious Canadian poetry awards. What does the Griffin Prize win mean for you personally?
Ken Babstock: Thank you, Sharon. And we’re off! Already trying to walk a fine line between seeming gracious, humble, ...
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An Interview with Johanna Skibsrud
Interviewed by Michelle Elrick
Michelle Elrick: Though many people around the world were introduced to your work through your 2010 Giller Prize-winning novel The Sentimentalists, you have also published two books of poetry, Late Nights with Wild Cowboys, and I Do Not Think That I Could Love a Human Being, as well as a book of short stories, all masterfully rendered. Do you feel more at home in a particular genre? How do these different ...
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An interview with John K. Samson
Interviewed by Clarise Foster
Clarise Foster: The introductory quotes to the book and epigraphs to several of the pieces in this collection are excerpts of poems: Alden Nolen, Patrick Friesen, W.H. Auden, Catherine Hunter. Clearly poetry has a substantial impact on your song writing — when did you become interested in poetry and how does it shape your creative process?
John K. Samson: Sure, I became interested in poetry at the ...
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An interview with Méira Cook
Interviewed by Clarise Foster
Clarise Foster: A Walker in the City, your fourth collection of poetry, takes the reader on a wild jaunt in the company of some rather intriguing characters — a young walker/poet, Em, a crusty old poet, Kulperstein, the alter ego/creation of a deceased poet, Felix Kaye, and there is the poet narrator. I know this might seem an odd question to start, but how did you come up with names for your ...
