Line of Inquiry: Richard B. Wright

Richard B Wright published his first novel in 1965, and since then has produced over a dozen titles.

His 1995 novel The Age of Longing was shortlisted for the Giller Prize and the Governor General’s Award, but Clara Callan, published in 2001, cemented his reputation by winning the Scotiabank Giller Prize, the Governor General’s Award, the Trillium Book Award, and the CBA Libris Awards for Best Book and Author of the Year.

His next novels, Adultery and October, were best-sellers, with October being long-listed for the Giller.

Wright’s new novel is Mr. Shakespeare’s Bastard (HarperCollins). He lives in St Catherine’s, Ontario.

1) As a writer (i.e. someone whose artistic practice is predicated on time spent alone) how do you approach performance? What do you get out of it?

How do most people who no only work alone but are also reclusive by nature approach performance? Probably with fear and trembling, but I have been reading to audiences for many years now and actually – despite the normal apprehension that accompanies them – I have come to enjoy the experience. There is a buzz attached to engaging an audience through words alone. It doesn’t always happen, but if I am lucky I can see people getting caught up in the story as they listen, and that is very gratifying.

2) What do you want people to know about Mr. Shakespeare’s Bastard?

I want them to know that the novel is set in two time zones of the 17th century: the period in which Shakespeare was living in London, and later in the century following the Civil War. They should know that it’s the story of a young girl who listens to her mother tell of how she went from a village to London and met the poet when he was only 23 and had a child by him. It’s also the story of how that child grew up and at the age of 14 set out for London to find her father.

3) Will this your first time in Winnipeg? What have you heard?

I have been to Winnipeg several times for readings, but they have been of necessity quick visits, and so I haven’t been able to form any lasting impression of the city. I have heard that it’s very cold in winter. But where in Canada is it not cold in winter? In Toronto you can your freeze your...well never mind, it can be cold.

4) What are you reading right now? What are you writing right now?

I have just finished re-reading Martin Amis’s The War Against Cliché and I’ll soon be re-reading Turgenev’s A Sportman’s Notebook. This summer I have also enjoyed Graham Swift’s memoir, Making An Elephant.

5) The prospect of writing from the point of view of a woman would probably give most male writers cramps. After eleven books, is there anything you can't/won't try to write?

I have never thought about such a question, but now that you ask, I don’t think I could or would want to write a science fiction novel or one that includes vampires. I don’t believe it should be that unusual for a man to write from a woman’s point of view. After all, women sometimes write novels from a man’s perspective. The whole point of being a novelist is being able to imagine the lives of others, whatever the gender.

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Richard B. Wright will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:

September 20 - Afternoon Book Chat, with Carolyn Smart
September 20 - Mainstage, with Michael Lista, Carolyn Smart, Joan Thomas, Eva Wiseman
September 21 - Campus Program, U of M.