Relive the memories of your favourite Festival events with our audio archives. We will be posting audio from a 2011 Festival event each week leading up to the 2012 Festival and you can also look forward to a blog post from Hal sharing his thoughts, memories and stories from each event...
Mea culpa, mea culpa, I had intended to do short blog entries each time we posted a new audio event, but to be honest I have been distracted by the current flurry of activity around our next Festival. So I have to play catch-up here.
Ah yes, our first audio post is Bloody Scotland. Chosen because our three guests were so lively and funny. The moderator Lonnie Propas and I were nervous about asking them why the Scots are so good at writing about crime because we thought they might find the question obvious, tiresome or irritating. Instead they took it quite seriously and their answers were illuminating. Later that week when Denise Mina was getting ready to leave for the airport, suitcases packed and at the ready, she said she had enjoyed the Festival and even better, she had finished her next novel in her room at the Granville Island Hotel! We will be checking the acknowledgements when the book is published.
The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked Incite authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are...
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Perpetual motion. I’m happiest when I’m on a train, or a ferry, or driving somewhere far away. I think if I could live in that limbo between departure and destination forever, I would.
What does your ideal day look like? My ideal day is one that is memorable. I want to have as many adventures as possible so that I can look back on my life and not feel that I’ve wasted my time.
What is your greatest extravagance? Books, as far as my bank account is concerned. Taken less literally, I would say time. I do what I want to be doing, most of the time, and I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve found ways to make my living that way.
What possession would you be heartbroken if you lost? I don’t have any particular totems that I keep with me for sentimental reasons, and though I’ve accumulated a lot of possessions, they’re just things. I’d be heartbroken if I lost the pictures I’ve taken, though, or the stories I’ve written so far.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I suppose I would like to be more comfortable in my own skin.
What childhood fear has followed you into adulthood? I’ve always been afraid that bad things would happen to my family.
Do you take comfort in darkness or light? Yes. I mean, both.
Do you remember your dreams? Some of them. Generally they’re the recurring ones, or the ones that have something to do with what I’m stressing about in real life. Some of them just disappear.
How do you collect snippets of observations and ideas that come to you unexpectedly? I have a little notebook that my dad gave me for Christmas several years ago that I try to use, though more and more I use my iPhone or my computer for that stuff.
The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked Incite authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are...
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Touching down in Sydney, Australia, for an extended holiday across that continent.
What does your ideal day look like? 7 am – walk the dog. 8 am – go to the gym. 9:30 – start writing. 1 pm – finish writing. Spend the afternoon reading. Then cooking a nice meal for when my partner gets home. A glass of sparkling wine and a DVD.
What is your greatest extravagance? First class flights. Good hotels. Hardback novels.
What possession would you be heartbroken if you lost? I have a wall where I keep one copy of every book I’ve written, in every language and edition they’ve been published in. I wouldn’t want to lose them.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I’d be a better guitar player.
What childhood fear has followed you into adulthood? Mice and rats. Can’t stand them. Can’t even look at pictures of them.
Do you take comfort in darkness or light? I don’t have any strong feelings about either! Although I do quite enjoy those long winter days where it never seems to get any brighter.
Do you remember your dreams? Not often, but I do have a recurring dream where I am about to go on stage in a play and can’t remember any of my lines, nor is anyone willing to tell me them or show me a script. I have no idea what it means.
How do you collect snippets of observations and ideas that come to you unexpectedly? I keep a notebook with me at all times and write down every random idea in there. Most of them don’t come to anything but every so often one is a keeper.
The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked Incite authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are...
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Contented exhaustion. Maybe I’ve been out climbing mountains all day, or taming lions. Now I’m inside with a cup of tea and a good book and there is a thunderstorm outside. It’s pouring rain. I have no choice but to read until I sleep.
What does your ideal day look like? It’s an impossible dream of being all my favourite places at once: on a Mexican beach for breakfast, in an Amsterdam café for lunch, and back in Canada with my family for turkey dinner (why not?) by sunset.
What is your greatest extravagance? Peanut butter and jam. Often I can only afford one or the other. When I’ve got both, life is good.
What possession would you be heartbroken if you lost? I move so often, and have so few possessions that my computer has become everything. It holds my music, my photos, my every idea. I don’t think I could give it up even at knifepoint.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I wish I were a better singer. I’d like to be the kind of person who could burst into beautiful song at any moment. Of course, if I could do that, I probably wouldn’t feel the need to write.
What childhood fear has followed you into adulthood? The misguided belief that if I can imagine it, it will happen. Like Chicken Little, I spend far too much time envisioning and then expecting the worst.
Do you take comfort in darkness or light? I definitely find comfort in darkness, but comfort and me have an uneasy relationship. I’m pretty sure comfort is what killed the cat, not curiosity.
Do you remember your dreams? Often. My dreams are technicolour, sci-fi, epic dramas. Many of my story ideas come from my dreams.
How do you collect snippets of observations and ideas that come to you unexpectedly? Several years ago I decided it was too overwhelming to try and record every little burst of inspiration. I had too many notebooks and could never remember where I had written things. Now when I have something I want to remember, I repeat it to myself over and over for weeks or months. The ideas that survive this test of time, the ones that rise to the top of my mind again and again, are the ones that find their way into my writing.
If you care about books – and I have to assume that anyone reading this cares at least a little bit – you know that our traditional notion of the book and the role of publishers are undergoing significant change and transformation.
In Canada there are a few writers who are in the vanguard of looking for new models to get their work into the "hands" of readers. No doubt there are many innovative writers I'm not even aware of, but one that interests me (and I thank Peter Darbyshire for bringing him to my attention via this article) is Leo McKay.
Leo is a Giller-shortlisted author who has decided to finance the self-publishing of his new novel by raising money from subscribers online through Indiegogo, one of those fundraising sites where, if the requestor gets the amount they are seeking within a specified timeframe, the project goes ahead. But if they don't, the money pledged is returned to the donator.
The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked Incite authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are...
What is your idea of perfect happiness? “Perfect happiness?” Shoes that fit, happy children, being in love. On the other hand, creatively speaking, one must never be “perfectly happy” …with anything. But knowing when to move on is good.
What does your ideal day look like? I read somewhere that Picasso’s days were like this: sleeping till noon, spending the day at the beach with his kids, having a late supper, and working all night. And I thought, “I could get into that.” It’s not practical right now, but my family and I do spend a lot of time at the beach in the summer.
What is your greatest extravagance? I don’t have many. Quitting drinking and smoking saves lots of money. My one extravagance: my husband and I will nurse an expensive soda water or cup of coffee at the Bengal Lounge in the Empress Hotel, because they have a jazz band you can listen to with no cover charge on weekends.
What possession would you be heartbroken if you lost? I try to be Buddhist about things: I’ve started over with the shirt on my back more than a few times. There’s this proverb I heard, “In the course of a long life, a man must be prepared to lose his luggage many times.” In a way, there’s a liberating side to losing things.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? I’m really not very sympathetic. I want to fix everything, and if it’s beyond repair I will pretty quickly leave it by the side of the road. I’ve also been told I think too much, going over a thing that happened for days from different angles.
What childhood fear has followed you into adulthood? That someone/something will steal the people I love.
Do you take comfort in darkness or light? I take comfort in my family, the ocean, poetry, music. I think that it’s from darkness that light comes, or, as Camus said, our majesty comes from the confrontation of our own mortality. Like a man with a knife fighting his way out of a barrage of machine guns -- that which we cannot conquer, but never giving up.
Do you remember your dreams? These days I have a recurrent dream set in a tenement house. I’m always trying to find my room in the building, or make money to pay my rent.
How do you collect snippets of observations and ideas that come to you unexpectedly? In a little book with a spiral binder. If I have no paper, I write on the back of my hand. If I have no pen, I repeat a key word or phrase, which is usually is enough until I get to a pen and paper.
“The Vancouver Writers Fest is the best of the large festivals, with a busy combo of panels, readings, one-to-one interviews as well as poetry jams and a mix of invitees from all over the world.”
Mea culpa, mea culpa, I had intended to do short blog entries each time we posted a new audio event, but to be honest I have been distracted by the current flurry of activity around our next Festival. So I have to play catch-up here.
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Finally, all our 
The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked Incite authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are...
The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked Incite authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are...
The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked Incite authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are...
If you care about books – and I have to assume that anyone reading this cares at least a little bit – you know that our traditional notion of the book and the role of publishers are undergoing significant change and transformation.
5,000 books spil
The Proust Questionnaire is believed to reveal an individual’s true nature. We have asked Incite authors 17 questions inspired by the questionnaire in an attempt to uncover who they are...
The 
