An update of the interviews and features on Open Book: Toronto this week.
Author Shari Lapeña talks to Open Book about her new novel, Happiness Economics (Brindle & Glass), the people who influence her writing and the relationship between her book and the Occupy movement. "Personally, I think Happiness Economics should be the official book of the Occupy Wall Street movement that is catching on all over the world now. Because that’s what the book is about — Will becomes an activist because he feels the values of the society he lives in are terribly skewed. There needs to be a fundamental change" she says. Read the full interview here.
Author Ken Chong discusses his new book Beauty Plus Pity (Arsenal Pulp Press), recurring themes in his writing and the differences in writing a novel versus a memoir: "As for how genres influence each other, I'd say non-fiction has made my fiction a bit more concise. Fiction has made me search for better turns of phrase in my non-fiction." Read the full interview here.
Author of Hard Gold Blood (Guernica) and Assistant Professor of writing at OCAD University Catherine Black answers the Proust Questionnaire for Open Book. She discusses her chief characteristic (bright plumage), her ideal place to live (split between her imaginary hacienda in Mexico and her imaginary farmhouse in rural Ontario) and other revealing facts. Read the rest of her answers here.
Goth expert and author of Encyclopedia Gothica (ECW Press), Liisa Ladouceur, answers a special Halloween edition of The Proust Questionnaire. She tells Open Book about her favourite authors (both living and dead), her favourite colour black: “The colour of night, the absence of light, the heart of a Goth" and other spooky facts. Read her full answers here.
Author, Managing Editor of BookThug and Co-Director of the Toronto New School for Writing, Jenny Sampirisi, talks with Open Book about her new collection of poetry, Croak (Coach House Books). She discusses how her various fields of work influence one another and her love of challenging genre expectations: "I like books that muck up the supposedly clear waters of genre. 'Genre' in many ways equates to a set of expectations that a book will fulfill. That bores me a bit. I’d rather have my expectations challenged now and then." Read the interview in full here.
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