She has published several poetry collections, including Under the Abdominal Wall, which was selected for the BC 2000 Book Awards Program, and The Love Song of Laura Ingalls Wilder, which won the Acorn-Plantos Award for People’s Poetry. Her new collection is For & Against (Goose Lane).
A former resident of Victoria, she now works as a legal editor in Fredericton, New Brunswick, and is a member of the editorial staff of The Fiddlehead.
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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?
I really enjoy readings. A reading is a chance to connect with real people, with an audience. Though I write for myself, in order to understand and interpret the world and my own position in it, the audience is always in mind, that need to connect with other people. So, the reading is an opportunity to do that. Plus, readings can be great fun, particularly if you're reading with other writers and there's a lively crowd. I'm happiest if I get a few laughs and maybe a few questions. I have been heckled: in a bar in Victoria, a guy yelled out, "Ah, get over it!" I kind of loved that. It's like getting a bad review--a response, even a negative one, is better than indifference.
2) What do you want people to know about For & Against?
Despite its potentially-negative subject matter (divorce, illness, confoundment, rage), For and Against was a lot of fun to write. I worked really hard on language in those poems, on sound and rhythm, in addition to metaphor and imagery. While I hope that people connect with the subject matter (and some have already), I also hope that people notice that it's poetry. Reviews tend to focus on the subject matter, which is fine, but I am a writer and language is uppermost in my mind.
3) Will this your first time in Winnipeg? What have you heard?
I spent one night in a motel in Winnipeg ten years ago when my family was relocating from Victoria to Fredericton. We drove across the country in a van (three kids and two cats and my husband and me). Our house deal in Fredericton was closing as we drove, but the guy at the bank in Fredericton neglected to have us sign one essential document. There were frantic phone calls and we got into a CIBC somewhere in Winnipeg at 7 a.m. the next morning to sign the document and then left Winnipeg. I look forward to a more pleasant stay this time. I've heard that it's a wonderfully cosmopolitan city and I look forward to wandering around, but I also hope to find a gym and get in a good workout too!
4) What are you reading right now? What are you writing right now?
Right now, I'm reading James Hillman, The Soul's Code. I've been reading Jungian psychological works lately and getting a lot out of them. I'm working on a new manuscript called "Gravitas" which will have nothing to do with marriage, divorce or relationships. It's all about the relationship with one's self and the need to explore that. It's also about bodybuilding - I work out a lot and spend a lot of time in gyms and am having fun with all of the metaphoric opportunity that the gym presents (redefining one's self, getting strong and lean, etc.).
5) You seem almost fearless in your writing on your childhood and the end of your marriage. How do you negotiate the divide between your life and your writing and your writing life?
I don't know how to divide writing from life and I don't know what else to write about. I have relied on the dramatic monologue quite often to facilitate writing, but even when I'm using someone else's voice, it's still me. I'm happiest when I'm actively writing, when the notebook is always at my side and I've always got a few drafts on the go. That makes life easier. So, I don't think that there's a need to divide writing from life. The overlap can be hard on other people though. When I'm writing stuff that involves other people (e.g. ex-husband and other ex-partners), being honest and respectful is essential. If I'm blaming, I try not to let myself off the hook. I'm lucky in that my ex-husband is also a writer who understands that your material is your material. As a writer, I'm responsible first to myself, to be honest and as "true" as possible. And, in that, I hope that I am honest and true to other people too, even if what I say is not always pleasant.
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Sharon McCartney will be appearing at THIN AIR, Winnipeg International Writers Festival:
September 22 - Afternoon Book Chat, with Craig Francis Power
September 22 - Mainstage, with Sandra Birdsell, Uma Parameswaran, Craig Francis Power, Michael Wex.
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Ariel Gordon has two chapbooks to her credit, The navel gaze (Palimpsest Press) and Guidelines: Malaysia & Indonesia, 1999 (Rubicon Press), and this spring, Palimpsest published her first full-length poetry collection, Hump. She recently won the John Hirsch Award for Most Promising Manitoba Writer at the Manitoba Book Awards. When not being bookish, Ariel likes tromping through the woods and taking macro photographs of mushrooms.
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