Date
Tue October 28, 2014
The WAR Series: Writers as Readers, with Elana Wolff
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The WAR Series: Writers as Readers, with Colette Maitland
Submitted by Grace on July 31, 2014 - 9:57am
If you read literary magazines in Canada, Colette Maitland is likely a familiar name, as her fiction has appeared widely in many of Canada's most acclaimed publications. Now she has followed up her short story collection Keeping the Peace with a new novel, Riel Street (Frontenac House). Riel Street tells the story of the Bouchard family, living on a military base in Kingston during the late 60s and early 70s. We speak to Colette today as part of the WAR Series: Writers as Readers, where we ask authors about the books that have influenced them over the years. Colette tells us about how the books that make you laugh can also make you cry (and vice versa), the book she would give her seventeen year old self and what's next on her reading list. The WAR Series, Writers as ReadersThe first book I remember reading on my own: A book that made me cry: The first adult book I read: A book that made me laugh out loud: The book I have re-read many times: I don’t tend to read books over and over, but I have read a handful of books twice: To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee, The Diviners, by Margaret Laurence, Barney’s Version, by Mordecai Richler, The Sparrow, by Mary Doria Russell, and The Meagre Tarmac, by Clark Blaise. I purchase a lot of books. As I type this piece, I am mindful of the floor-to-ceiling bookcase in my office, which houses roughly 150 books that I have bought, but not yet read. A book I feel like I should have read, but haven't: The book I would give my seventeen year old self, if I could: A book I feel strongly influenced me as a writer and why: The best book I read in the past six months: I am currently enrolled in the Optional Residency MFA program at UBC. Last year I took my very first creative non-fiction course and I read a lot of creative non-fiction. My favourite non-fiction book of the past six months is The Best American Essays 2013, edited by Cheryl Strayed. The book I plan on reading next: A possible title for my autobiography: Related item from our archives |
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