The Calgary Renaissance: an interview with Eric Zboya

Edited by derek beaulieu and rob mclennan, and designed by Chaudiere co-publisher Christine McNair, The Calgary Renaissance highlights some of the diverse and astonishing experimental poetry and fiction that has emerged out of the past two decades of Calgary writing. An essential portrait of some of the most engaged and radical of Canadian writing and writers from one of the country’s most important literary centres. You can order a copy directly, here.

For further (ongoing) interviews with contributors to The Calgary Renaissance, check out the link here.

Eric Zboya is an experimental poet and visual artist who lives in Calgary’s bedroom community of Cochrane, AB. Zboya’s work has been published and exhibited in a wide variety of chapbooks, literary journals, magazines, anthologies, art galleries, and museums throughout North America and Europe. He was a finalist for both the 2013 Robert Kroetsch Award for Innovative Poetry and the 2013 Alberta Magazines Showcase Awards selection of poetry.

Q: How long have you been in Calgary, and what first took you there?

A: I was born and raised in Calgary. Currently, I live in Cochrane, which is a small town just outside of Calgary.

Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community in Calgary?

A: My first introduction to writing occurred in Junior High and High School. I enjoyed it at the time, but it wasn’t until my early 20’s when writing really started to peak my interests. The writing I produced during that period reflected my literary curiosities at the time; so much of it resembled the overwrought and hyperbolic language of Kazantzakis and Rushdie, all of which was no good. I played around with poetry as well; but again, what I produced really reflected the sources one finds at Chapters (Frost, Byron, Tennyson, Wilde, etc). When I hit the age of 32, I came to the realization that without more formal literary training everything I would continue to produce would be nothing more than trash. So, I enrolled at the U of C and snatched up a first class honours degree in English Lit. It was here at the U of C, through much experimentation and exploration, and through the mentorship of many wonderful professors, that I began to develop as a writer. Subsequently, these professors, along with their literary connections, opened me to Calgary’s writing community.

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all? What did Calgary provide, or allow?

A: Calgary’s community has opened me up to the idea of experimentation, and has shown me avenues of writing that I would have never thought possible. These avenues sometimes raise an eyebrow or two, I will admit, but it’s fun to produce work that goes outside the box. How else are you supposed to grow as an artist if you don’t experiment?

Q: What do you see happening in Calgary that you don’t see anywhere else?

A: I believe that Calgary very much belongs to the school of conceptualism. This is not to say, of course, that other regions in the country do not practice or experiment with this aesthetic, but Calgary really represents itself as a hub for a bit of the abnormal.

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements there?

A: I believe that most of my projects reflect, in some way, the conceptual aesthetics of Calgary.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I have a project on the go that promises to be more words than visuals, which is a first for me. There will be some visual elements to the manuscript, naturally, but the collection will consist mostly of lines and stanzas, and all that other nonsense. It’s going to take some time.

The Calgary Renaissance: an interview with Nicole Markotić

Edited by derek beaulieu and rob mclennan, and designed by Chaudiere co-publisher Christine McNair, The Calgary Renaissance highlights some of the diverse and astonishing experimental poetry and fiction that has emerged out of the past two decades of Calgary writing. An essential portrait of some of the most engaged and radical of Canadian writing and writers from one of the country’s most important literary centres. You can order a copy directly, here.

For further (ongoing) interviews with contributors to The Calgary Renaissance, check out the link here.

Nicole Markotić is a novelist, critic, and poet. Her most recent poetry books include Whelmed (Coach House Books) and Bent at the Spine (BookThug), and her most recent novel is Rough Patch (Arsenal Pulp Press). She has edited a collection of poetry by Dennis Cooley, By Word of Mouth (Wilfrid Laurier), written a critical book on disability and literature, Disability in Film and Literature (McFarland & Co), and completed an edited collection of essays on Robert Kroetsch (Guernica). She has published in literary journals in Canada, the USA, Australia, and Europe. She edits the chapbook series, Wrinkle Press (publishing such authors as Nikki Reimer, Robert Kroetsch, and Fred Wah), and has worked as a freelance editor, as poetry editor for Red Deer Press, and as fiction editor for NeWest Press. Currently, Nicole Markotić is Professor of Literature, Creative Writing, Disability Studies, and Children’s Literature at the University of Windsor.

Q: How long were you in Calgary, and what first took you there?

A: either too long or not long enough… 

A: my parents.

Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community in Calgary?

A: Not sure when I started, but wrote quite terrible poems, from quite early on. Later, took whatever courses I could (at the Uni, through various Continuing Ed programs, in Red Deer); any time a writer offered a course, I tried to get in. Eventually, I met other writers at a similar stage in the writing (ie, pre-published) and we started forming writing groups and reading series and publishing chapbooks.

I remember being asked by the Calgary Authors League to give a talk on self-publishing and by the Writers Guild of Alberta to give a talk on editing, both in 1989. Back then, even though most of us “emerging” writers hadn’t published much, the community widened to encompass us, and what we had to say.

Literary projects over those years include: Splits the Heard reading series (started in 1988, with Catherine A. Simmons and Roberta Rees) and then the Para-Poetics reading series (1994, with Jeff Derksen and Jacqueline Turner). Publishing and editing projects include: the Second Wednesday chapbook series (the first, Red Dress Anthology, in 1987), Secrets from the Orange Couch (1988, with a whole handful of editors, and which morphed into absinthe in 1991), disOrientation Chapbooks (1991, with Ashok Mathur). I also volunteered with VOX magazine (UofCalgary) for a couple of years in the late 1980s, initiating a monthly short story inclusion, and worked for two years for Red Deer (College) Press in the early 1990s, editing anything from poetry to cookbooks. All informed my writing and approach to editing and introduced me to lesser-known ways to distribute and circulate writing. Heady times.

Q: Who else was around during, and part of, that activity?

A: Late 80s to early 90s: Anita Badami, Rob Budde, Weyman Chan, Joan Crate, Cheryl Foggo, Cecelia Frey, Hiromi Goto, Nancy Holmes, Yasmin Ladha, Clem Martini, Ashok Mathur, Suzette Mayr, Rosemary Nixon, Roberta Rees, Barb Scott, Catherine A. Simmons, Fred Stenson, Aritha van Herk, Fred Wah, and Rita Wong.

And shortly after (mid-90s): Louis Cabri, Nancy Jo Cullen, Jeff Derksen, Chris Ewart, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jocelyn Grosse, Jill Hartman, Susan Holbrook, JoAnn McCaig, Peter Oliva, Sue Ouriou, Russ Rickey, Nikki Reimer, André Rodrigues, Ian Samuels, Natalie Simpson, tj snow, Jacqueline Turner, Jonathon Wilcke, Sheri-D Wilson, and a whole bunch of others that I’m missing!

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all? What did Calgary provide, or allow?

First off, this community provided community. Before joining in these groups, I thought becoming a writer was something an individual achieved in isolation. But almost right away we started a reading series (Splits the Heard) and a chapbook press (Second Wednesday). Turns out, becoming a writer meant participating in organizing and editing and writing conversations and all sorts of joint literary activities. Calgary provided a lot: city funding for arts projects, venues, and a great interest in poetics! But it was also limited in ways: the groups at that time were quite small and many of us were volunteering on many projects at once. There were a few series/events already in place, such as the Calgary Reading series and the Women Celebrating Women reading series; and once Fred Wah showed up, of course, everything blew up 😊

Q: What do you see happening in Calgary that you don’t see anywhere else?

I’m not sure I’d put it that way, as I haven’t been everywhere else! But Calgary does have an energetic writing community (communities, now), and so many writers have passed through, which both allows local writers access to these visitors, but also allows the visitors an introduction to the Calgary writing scene (and to bring bits of it back to their homes, if they’re so inclined).

Just after Fred Wah arrived, some of his former students started the lit journal filling Station – and it’s still going today! This is a tremendous achievement, and I think speaks to the dedication to literary writing that’s ongoing in Calgary.

Finally, Calgary embraces compelling writing at many different levels: disjunctive poetics intermingles with experimental fiction which interacts with spoken word events, and all reside in the same city as quite stunning theatre and dance and visual art…

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements there?

I think all do; I’m always inspired by where I live/write, but I’m also connected to so many lit communities via digital means (on the board of NeWest Press in Edmonton, linked to so much poetry in Vancouver each summer, online discussions with writers/editors who live all over the place, etc. Also, my most recent poetry book, Whelmed, benefitted hugely from direct and weekly contact with my editor, Susan Holbrook (also Calgary-influenced J). But I’ve also set some fiction pieces in this city, and discovered a strange new relationship with that monolithic country that sits (ironically) just north of Windsor…

Q: What prompted your move away, and what kind of effect has this made, if at all, in your work?

I moved partly for change: I’d completed my PhD at the University of Calgary, as well as working as a professor in the English department for nearly a decade. But I also moved because the department at the University of Windsor seemed so dynamic, offering amazing writing classes and a program that’s being very strong since 1968!

Q: What are you working on now?

Fiction, poetry, critical research, YA novels, picture books, chapbook publishing, various editing projects… too huge a question!

The Calgary Renaissance: an interview with Jani Krulc

Edited by derek beaulieu and rob mclennan, and designed by Chaudiere co-publisher Christine McNair, The Calgary Renaissance highlights some of the diverse and astonishing experimental poetry and fiction that has emerged out of the past two decades of Calgary writing. An essential portrait of some of the most engaged and radical of Canadian writing and writers from one of the country’s most important literary centres. You can order a copy directly, here.

For further (ongoing) interviews with contributors to The Calgary Renaissance, check out the link here.

Jani Krulc’s first collection of short fiction, The Jesus Year, was published in 2013 by Insomniac Press. Jani has an MA in English and Creative Writing from Concordia University, and a BA (Hons) in English from the University of Calgary. She lives and writes in Calgary, where she also teaches and practices Yoga.

Q: How long have you been in Calgary, and what first took you there?

A: I was born in Calgary. I did my undergrad at the University of Calgary and then returned to the city after grad school in Montreal.

Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community in Calgary?

A: In my first year orientation at the U of C, I discovered creative writing classes. No one had told me such a thing existed. I applied with a portfolio in my second year and got in. I’m still friends with a lot of the people I met in those classes. After graduating, I was the Fiction Editor for filling Station Magazine, and when I returned from grad school, I became involved with the magazine again.

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all? What did Calgary provide, or allow?

A: Calgary was my first writing community – I hadn’t realized such a community could or did exist. Mostly I was just excited to have found other writers.

My return to Calgary has felt different. When you’re a student, you have a built in, automatic community of sorts. Now as a “civilian,” I’ve had to search out a community, and help foster it as well. I’m fortunate to have found a group of people with whom I share an aesthetic sensibility. The writing community here is integral to my life, socially and creatively.

Q: What do you see happening in Calgary that you don’t see anywhere else?

A: There’s a certain enthusiasm and energy here that infuses the community. A willingness to experiment and try new things. Perhaps it’s a reaction to (what was) a conservative political landscape or maybe it’s just an extension of the city’s ethos.

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements there?

A: Calgary itself appears in a lot of my fiction. Some of the stories in the collection I’m currently working on deal with the 2013 flood; some deal with the boom/bust economy. In 2015, I wrote a chapter for Noir on 8th, a collaborative novel that is set in Calgary’s East Village.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’m writing a collection of short stories and a series of linked stories.

Amanda Earl at unlikely stories,

Amanda Earl has two new stories up at unlikely stories. She blogged a bit of background about these two new stories here, as well.

Calgary launch / THE CALGARY RENAISSANCE - December 2nd 7pm at pages Books!

Help celebrate the publication of THE CALGARY RENAISSANCE!

December 2nd 7:00pm at Pages Books!

Featuring readings by

HOLLIE ADAMS, CHRISTIAN BOK, WEYMAN CHAN, AARON GIOVANNONE, HELEN HAJNOCZKY, NAOMI K. LEWIS, JANI KRULC, NIKKI SHEPPY, NATALIE SIMPSON, EMILY URSULIAK and ANDREW WEDDERBURN

Edited by derek beaulieu and rob mclennan, and published by Ottawa’s Chaudiere Books, The Calgary Renaissance highlights some of the diverse and astonishing experimental poetry and fiction that has emerged out of the past two decades of Calgary writing. An essential portrait of some of the most engaged and radical of Canadian writing and writers from one of the country’s most important literary centres.

Contributors include: Hollie Adams, Jonathan Ball, Braydon Beaulieu, Christian Bök, Louis Cabri, Natalee Caple, Weyman Chan, Jason Christie, Chris Ewart, Aaron Giovannone, Helen Hajnoczky, Susan Holbrook, Ken Hunt, Jani Krulc, Larissa Lai, Naomi K. Lewis, Nicole Markotic, Suzette Mayr, kevin mcpherson eckhoff, Sandy Pool, Sharanpal Ruprai, Ian Sampson, Jordan Scott, Nikki Sheppy, Natalie Simpson, Emily Ursuliak, Natalie Zina Walschots, Andrew Wedderburn, Julia Williams, Rita Wong, Eric Zboya, and Paul Zits.

Introduction by derek beaulieu and rob mclennan. Cover by Natalie Lauchlan and Nathaniel Mah. Designed by Christine McNair and Cameron Anstee.

More information on the book (including interviews and media) here: https://derekbeaulieu.wordpress.com/edited/

The Calgary Renaissance: an interview with Emily Ursuliak

Edited by derek beaulieu and rob mclennan, and designed by Chaudiere co-publisher Christine McNair, The Calgary Renaissance highlights some of the diverse and astonishing experimental poetry and fiction that has emerged out of the past two decades of Calgary writing. An essential portrait of some of the most engaged and radical of Canadian writing and writers from one of the country’s most important literary centres. You can order a copy directly, here.

For further (ongoing) interviews with contributors to The Calgary Renaissance, check out the link here.

Emily Ursuliak writes both fiction and poetry and has an ma in English, with a focus in creative writing, from the University of Calgary. She is the host and producer of CJSW’s literary radio show, Writer’s Block, and teaches creative writing courses for the Alexandra Writers’ Centre and other community organizations.

Q: How long have you been in Calgary, and what first took you there?

A: I moved to Calgary to pursue my English MA at the University of Calgary. That was about five years ago now and I ended up staying because I love the writing community here so much.

Q: How did you first get involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community in Calgary?

A: I’ve always written. I don’t really have a distinct memory of when I started, or why, it’s always seemed very impulsive, something that I need to do. In elementary school I used to show my appreciation for teachers I liked by giving them a copy of whatever poem I had just written (I was a bit of a teacher’s pet). They were often nature poems that I would layer over a top of a photograph that I felt went with the poem.

I got involved with the writing community in Calgary pretty much as soon as I moved here. I was really hungry for a larger writing community. I remember researching writing events in the city months before I ever moved and writing them down in my day planner. A lot of the people that I consider to be my “core” writing community I met through going to the Flywheel Reading Series that filling Station magazine puts on.

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all? What did Calgary provide, or allow?

A: What Calgary exposed me to was a variety of different styles and approaches to writing. I didn’t really know any experimental writers before moving here, and conversations with them have taught me a lot about new approaches to writing. It’s also been great to learn from fellow lyric poets and fiction writers, as well as nonfiction writers.

The core group of writers I’m friends with meet up every other Sunday at a pub to write and chat and often bring books along with them. I’ve written down a lot of book titles just from my conversations with them, and I appreciate how being a part of this community has introduced me to the work of writers I might not have encountered on my own.

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements there? How did the city and its community, if at all, change the way you approached your work?

A: 2013 was the year of the flood for Calgary, and it was an experience that I feel like solidified my identity as a Calgarian. I volunteered in two of the affected areas. In the neighbourhood of Bowness I helped clear out a basement that had been completely flooded, and then later in the week helped load random rubble from the streets in Sunnyside into a semi trailer. Two poems came out of those experiences, the poem about Sunnyside was published in The Calgary Project: A City Map in Verse and Visual. So I think the landscape of Calgary as a city has been a definite inspiration for me, and I hope to engage more with it in the future.

I think the books I’ve read as a result of suggestions from other Calgary writers, as well as engaging with their work, have taught me about the power of more economical writing, where every word counts. I think of local poets like Monica Kidd, for instance, whose last book, The Year of Our Beautiful Exile, uses language in such a crisp, precise way. I admire her work a lot and hope that I can use language as masterfully as her one day.

Q: What do you see happening in Calgary that you don’t see anywhere else?

A: This is the first literary community that I’ve had much experience with, so it’s hard for me to compare it with what’s going on in other cities. But I think there’s a spirit of rebellion here, and that’s in part due to the negative stereotypes that Calgary is sometimes saddled with. People have this notion that Calgary is very redneck and conservative, and it can be, and so those of us in the arts communities feel a strong drive to prove the stereotype wrong, to show people outside of Calgary that there is a vibrant, diverse cultural scene here.