ALL IN THE FAMILY
Couple penning critically acclaimed novels from their Margaree home
Margaree couple competing for provincial writing award.
Oisin Curran and Sarah Faber may be competing on paper for a coveted Atlantic Book Award next month but in real life, the married couple are more likely to encourage each other.
The two are married to each other and live in Southwest Margaree with their two children, a seven-year-old boy and a fiveyear-old girl.
Although it wasn’t initially planned that way, their books came out at around the same time in 2017, making them both eligible for this year’s Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize, along with award winning novelist Carol Bruneau. This year’s prize will be announced May 10 in Halifax.
“It was pretty surprising,” said Curran, 46, and Faber agrees.
“We hadn’t planned for the books to come out at the same time — it just worked out that way,” she said, adding the nominations were a surprise. “It was unexpected for sure.”
The same could be said for how they met.
“My Dad had bought land here in the 1970s before I was born,” said Faber. “I would spend six months in Toronto and six months here … I spent summers here — I really loved it.”
It was during one of those summers when they met.
“I was on a vacation here in 2000,” recalled Curran. “My father went to St. FX (in Antigonish) and had good memories so we took a trip up here and stayed at MacLeod’s Campground. We went to the Casual Gourmet (since defunct) and Sarah was the server.”
It came up in conversation that Faber was also a writer and
that she was going to start an ezine.
“The zine never materialized but we started corresponding,” said Curran.
They eventually married and lived in the backwoods of Maine and in Toronto and Montreal where they both attended Concordia University. But all along, the plan was to return to Cape Breton.
Curran, who grew up in Maine, received a BA in classics and a MFA in creative writing from Brown University (in Providence, R.I.). He received a diploma in translation (French to English) from Concordia.
Curran’s second book, “Blood Fable” was released last fall and was one of the Globe and Mail’s most anticipated new books of 2017. He has also been named a writer to watch by the CBC. Curran is also the author of “Mopus” (2008). In addition to writing books, he is a freelance writer, contributing regularly to websites like www.howstuffworks. com and television shows like “How It’s Made.”
Faber’s debut novel, “All Is Beauty Now” was released last fall and has been earning stellar reviews across the U.S. and Canada. She received a MA in creative writing and English literature from Concordia and has been short-listed for the Malahat Review Far Horizons Award for Short Fiction.
She is also a freelance writer although Faber says Curran is doing the bulk of it now while she homeschools their son. Because they’re married they often do book events together.
“It’s been really nice,” said Faber.