Today Open Book talks with Peter Behrens, Governor General's Literary Award-winning author of The Law of Dreams and, most recently, The O'Briens, (Anansi) as part of our IFOA Interview series.
IFOA: Ontario is the International Festival of Authors' touring component, bringing authors from IFOA’s roster of the best contemporary writers from around the globe to a number of Ontario locations.
Open Book:
Tell us about the book from which you will be reading at IFOA Ontario.
Peter Behrens:
The O’Briens is a novel about a boy from the backwoods who fights his way out of poverty and never really stops fighting, often with himself. He’s the grandson of the protagonist of my novel The Law of Dreams.
OB:
To what aspect of the IFOA: Ontario are you most looking forward?
PB:
It’s always exciting to be in Toronto — I live in rural, coastal Maine so I love coming to the big city. Plus I just enjoy any chance to be back in Canada. Also meeting writers I admire, and with writers whose work I haven’t read yet.
OB:
Tell us about a favourite spot or area in Ontario.
PB:
I was in eastern Ontario last month around Lakeville and I found that countryside gorgeous, green and peaceful. Love the architecture up there, especially those barns with their stone footings. The quiet of that land in midsummer. I never saw the lakes but I bet they are gorgeous.
OB:
What is your favourite part of touring?
PB:
I like seeing country. Land appeals to me. Great buildings. Small towns. I like talking to other writers I meet along the way.
OB:
What were some of your early experiences with public readings? Is there a learning curve to reading in public?
PB:
Oh yeah. My first reading was dreadful. I read with Jon Lethem and Michael Chabon in Blue Hill Maine. They had set up the reading to introduce me and my first novel. I read a bleak section of the book and did not set it up buy talking about the story, or edit it to be read aloud. I made no attempt to connect with the audience. It was grim. I got some tips afterward from Jon and from Michael and friends and I began to understand that reading is a performance and that I needed to work on it and deliver a crafted performance.
OB:
Tell us about a favourite book set in Ontario.
PB:
The Deptford Trilogy, R Davies.
OB:
What is your writing environment like?
PB:
I have an office/studio in my home in Maine. It’s somewhat separate from the rest of the house, though my five-year-old can find his way in easily enough. I have a (Canadian) canoe (made in Ancienne Lorette, QC) slung on the rafters above. Big windows, a table of geraniums, a wall of bookshelves. I need to keep it very neat. Somewhat compulsive about neatness around me.
OB:
What are you reading right now?
PB:
A new biography of Otto von Bismarck by Steinberg, and a new history of WWII by Andrew Roberts
OB:
What can you tell us about your next project?
PB:
It’s set partly in Europe and its partly about WWII. Like my first two novels it's another story inspired by my family’s history — though changed, fictionalized, messed around with.
Peter Behrens is the author of the Governor General's Literary Award-winning novel, The Law of Dreams, published around the world to wide acclaim, and a collection of short stories, Night Driving. His short stories and essays have appeared in Atlantic Monthly, Tin House, Saturday Night and the National Post. He was born in Montreal and lives on the coast of Maine with his wife and son.
For more information about The O'Briens please visit the Anansi website.
Buy this book at your local independent bookstore or online at Chapters/Indigo or Amazon.
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