Laurie Koensgen lives
in Ottawa where she advocates for the Arts. Her poems have appeared in Arc Poetry Magazine, Literary Review of Canada, In/Words, Barren Magazine, Juniper: A
Poetry Journal, Kissing Dynamite, Burning
House Press, Black Bough Poetry
and elsewhere. She was shortlisted for The
Malahat Review’s Far Horizons Award for Poetry 2018, and received
Honourable Mentions in Arc’s Diana
Brebner Prize 2018 and The New Quarterly’s
Occasional Verse Contest 2019.
Q: How long have you been in Ottawa, and what first
brought you here?
I moved to Ottawa when I was in high school and stayed
until my early twenties. I left for Toronto with now-husband John Koensgen,
where I studied at U of T while he continued his acting career. In the 80s one
could make a living as a professional actor in Ottawa so we moved back in 1983.
We’ve remained here since, raising two sons and shepherding parents through
their final years.
Q: How did you first get
involved in writing, and subsequently, the writing community here?
I started writing poems
when I was a child. Poetry was generally a private thing in adulthood. I was often
in the company of playwrights but had no desire to write for theatre or film. Among
recurring faces at poetry events I noticed Lise Rochefort. She was meeting
other writers at poetry workshops, particularly Frances Boyle, and thinking
about forming a writers group. With Dilys Lehman as our fourth (and soon after,
Pearl Pirie) we created Ruby Tuesdays –– a collective of Ottawa poets that has been
meeting weekly for fourteen years.
Q: How did being in such a
community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?
The sense of community I
feel as part of a respectful writing group can’t be overstated. I’ve moved from
isolation to participation, from bursts of productivity to a more disciplined
practice. Weekly meetings with like-minded writers open me to the finest professional
resources: we critique each other’s poems, explore the work of other poets, and
share news about publication and reading opportunities.
Q: What do you see
happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide, or
allow?
My experience with literary
communities outside of Ottawa is limited so I can’t compare. I love how
Versefest responds to this community of poets with inclusivity and respect, and
how its bilingual nature distinguishes us. The Ottawa International Writers Festival also embraces our resident writers and includes local literary events
in its programming. This matters in a capital city renowned for its national institutions,
where local artists are vastly under-represented and patrons are generally oblivious
of that imbalance.
Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your
engagements here? How have the city and its community, if at all, changed the
way you approached your work?
In 2018 and again last year I was part of The Republic
of Childhood, a Writers Festival outreach that connects authors and classrooms.
I taught poetry workshops to middle school students, encouraging them to write
and perform their own chapbook-published poems. Mentoring is validating work
and I think it has enhanced my craft. It required me to clarify in my mind what
I feel is essential in poetry and share those fundamentals in engaging ways. I
had to be in the moment with those young writers, connecting with their themes.
Q: What are you working on now?
I’ve been encouraged by a number of acceptances and
contest placements in the last few years. I think it’s time to pull together a
manuscript.
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