Rising authors you need to meet
GET TO KNOW THEM HERE FIRST
Who’s going to be the next big writer? Chances are you’ll see them at the International Festival of Authors. Books Editor Deborah Dundas introduces us to 10 fresh faces at this year’s festival, which runs from Oct. 22 to Nov. 1. You might be able to say, "I saw them when. . ."
SAMUEL ARCHIBALD ARVIDA
My favourite writing ritual is to jump on a bus, train or plane, preferably for a long trip. I do most of my significant writing while travelling.
It’s hard to believe but I write mostly by hand. My editor becomes livid every time I tell him that I have a hundred pages worth of good writing in a worn-out notebook waiting to be typed on a computer.
My favourite drink is a 12-year-old Lagavulin cask-strength single malt Scotch whisky (make it a double).
BRECKEN HANCOCK BROOM BROOM
My favourite writing ritual is lurking on social media all morning while intermittently trying to read the book of poems in my lap until finally running out of time and rushing through a 30-minute burst of productivity before having to move on to other responsibilities. By favourite I mean least favourite.
It’s hard to believe but I tried to start a union in kindergarten so that we could collective bargain for longer recesses. I also started a petition on the chalkboard to urge Canada to renounce the queen. These efforts met with limited success.
My favourite drink is lager . . . toasting a pint of draught after a reading or sipping a glass in a summer-evening backyard after the baby’s gone to bed.
CLAIRE CALDWELL INVASIVE SPECIES
My favourite writing ritual is getting up early (in the dark, lately) and sitting down at the computer with a hot cup of coffee. I seem to do my best writing as the sun rises, when the day is still a blank slate.
It’s hard to believe but right now I’m working on a novel for young readers. Maybe that’s just hard for me to believe, since I’ve always seen myself strictly as a poet. But I’m loving the new challenge, and I’m excited about the story.
My favourite drink is milk. Delicious, filling, good for your bones . . . and you can add it to so many other things.
KIRSTIN INNES FISHNET
My favourite writing ritual is getting away and switching off the Internet. When I can, I get a week in a tiny one-room cottage in the very northwest of Scotland, overlooking the sea, where the only company is a flock of grumpy sheep and a friendly seal.
It’s hard to believe but before I began researching Fishnet I had very different views on the sex industry. Now, some of the sex workers I spoke to have become close friends and I call myself an ally in their fight for working rights and decriminalization.
My favourite drink is coffee. In a mug, it gets me through the day; in an espresso martini, it convinces me that I’m the most sophisticated, fascinating person in the room.
KATE CAYLEY HOW YOU WERE BORN
My favourite writing ritual is writing down important plot points/character notes/ideas on different coloured index cards, and arranging them in long rows, then shuffling them around. This gives me the illusion that I am writing a perfectly organized book. The real writing begins when I forget what’s on the cards.
It’s hard to believe, but I spent my 20s making puppet plays and touring to obscure anarchist theatre festivals across America in a van. My favourite drink is single malt scotch, neat.
HANNAH KENT BURIAL RITES
My favourite writing ritual is waking up early, making a pot of coffee and writing at my desk while the world sleeps. There is something special about writing in the early hours of a new morning. It gives me a sense of equanimity.
It’s hard to believe but when I was a child I wanted to be a bricklayer.
My favourite drink is when I lived in Iceland there were rivers of very pure snowmelt that you could drink from. I have never tasted anything colder or sweeter.
VERONICA GAYLIE SWORD DANCE*
My favourite writing ritual is to walk around finding poems and people. There’s always a story waiting to happen, often right outside the door. It’s just a matter of stepping out to get it, like the morning milk bottles.
It’s hard to believe but I took my first so-called “selfie” for this story. I’m in Kenya right now, learning and teaching about organic farming and climate change. I took the first photo on top of a hill while a bunch of baboons watched me. It’s also hard to believe I’m being interviewed by the Toronto Star, while sitting on the African equator. My favourite drink is water. *Author is not holding actual book cover
TRACEY LINDBERG BIRDIE
My favourite writing ritual is red lipstick, classical music and low lights. It sounds romantic, but it is really an attempt to eradicate the clinical and to expand the creative, space (it used to involve a gold lame shirt as well, but now anything without seams and a pronounced stain will do).
It’s hard to believe but I took a standup comedy class. It was an attempt to find something humorous about my situation at the time, I am sure. Nothing was funny. NOW, I feel like I could teach it.
My favourite drink is peach iced tea or decaf coffee — each by the gallon.
ALEXANDRA GRIGORESCU CAUCHEMAR
My favourite writing ritual is being swaddled in sweaters (non-wool), in sub-optimal light and with minimal back support. There tend to be two packets of gum nearby (one empty, the other half-full), and there is often something pointedly melodramatic on in the background. A Netflix-era mole person.
It’s hard to believe but I think I am becoming ambidextrous. Is that interesting? No?
My favourite drink is ever-changing, but it is not anything even vaguely resembling a Negroni.
NEIL SMITH BOO
My favourite writing ritual is to write longhand in pencil in a hardback lined notebook.
It’s hard to believe but I’m related to a Maggie Smith, although mine is not a dame.
My favourite drink is kombucha.