Author: quinnm92

“I think ‘quirky’ is a term that’s used to dismiss work, in particular by women, that’s challenging or hard to categorize”

– Anna Leventhal, Montreal Gazette

 

In an interview with the Montreal Gazette, Anna Leventhal discusses her short story collection Sweet Affliction, and why she definitively does not want to be called quirky:

“Quirky’ makes your work seem safe and a bit narcissistic. It implies weird for weird’s sake, a kind of toothless and uncritical weird…. I don’t know, it just sounds like something you call the female protagonist of a sitcom written exclusively by men, who’s kind of dizzy and has a lot of failed art projects made out of pipe cleaners around her house, who can never seem to get it together, but always looks cute and charming while she’s flailing around. ‘What a quirky gal!’ ”

 

Equal parts tender and darkly funny, some of Sweet Affliction’s stories, like “Moving Day”, in which everyone is forced by civic law to move on July 1st, use elements of the surreal and the satirical to expose the very real anxieties that are an everyday part of city living. Leventhal’s Montreal is populated by an impressive range of narrative voices; from a teenage lesbian to a brain tumour patient and beyond.

It’s also refreshing that Leventhal manages to paint a recognizable portrait of the city without idealizing it, explaining:

“Montreal’s a hard place to write sometimes, because it wants to romanticize itself.”

 

To hear Anna read and take part in the discussion, come to “Shame: A Fictional Exploration”“Shame: A Fictional Exploration” on Day 3 of Off the Page at 5605 Ave du Gaspe, #106 at 2:30 pm.

 

 

 

In a recent interview with The Next Chapter on CBC Radio One, Jowita Bydlowska discusses the inspiration for her first novel, Guy: escaping herself. She started writing the novel during the editing stage of Drunk Mom, and found the idea of spending time in the mind of a misogynistic womanizer liberating after spending so much time writing about herself.

To see Jowita read, come join the “Shame: A Fictional Exploration” discussion on Saturday, November 5th at 2:30 pm as part of the Off the Page festival at 5605 Ave du Gaspé, #106.

Jowita Bydlowska’s interview can be found here.

Event

 

 

“When men create characters based on themselves, they are innovative; when women do it, they’re shaming their families.”

– Chloe Caldwell, Catapult

Read Chloe Caldwell’s piece here.

 

In a recent article for Catapult’s online magazine, Chloe Caldwell voices her frustration about the inequality of assumed shame for writers, especially when their stories and characters take inspiration from their own lives.

She points out that male writers notorious for writing about their personal lives and mishaps have their work labeled “muscular”, full of “debauchery”, and “something that will help people”. But instead of being interested in the content or style of her own work, many people seem more preoccupied with the repercussions it has had on her personal relationships.

For Caldwell, it’s not so much the question of why women are shamed more than men that’s the mystery:”Emma Cline told Tin House: ‘I believe that partly we ask women these questions because we see women in relation to those around them, as daughters or partners or mothers, and not as autonomous artists.’ What she is saying is that asking me what my family thinks is a way of reminding me of my duties as a woman.” Rather, she seems to be starting a conversation about how we can change this perception going forward.

To join in on the conversation of female writers and shame, check out the panel “Shame: A Fictional Exploration” on Day 3 of Off the Page, November 5th at 2:30 pm at 5605 Ave du Gaspe, 106. Authors Jowita Bydlowska, Anna Leventhal, and Fawn Parker will be reading from their work and discussing the concept and implications of shame.

https://www.facebook.com/events/320229401683023/

 

-QM