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The inspiration(s) behind Dark Mode
I started writing Dark Mode in July 2019 while on residency at Varuna, the National Writer’s House. I remember opening a blank Word doc and thinking, okay, now it’s time to start a whole new book. My first book, My Name Is Revenge, had come out in April that year. I’d also just received a…
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Artist statement – on becoming a crime writer
My first publication happened when I was seven, in the Young Saskatchewan Writers school district anthology. In my copy, a message from my grade one teacher reads, ‘Keep writing stories.’ In 2017, I was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, and ended up mostly homebound and unable to participate meaningfully in my own life. I was…
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New Year’s Resolutions for 2023
Looking over the past few years, my relationship with resolutions has been complex. In 2019 I made an intentionally ludicrous list. In 2020, I tried for sincere resolutions, and then the pandemic happened. In 2021 I refused to make plans or goals, and 2022 wasn’t much different. I must be feeling optimistic again, because I’ve…
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Ep 67 Learning with a beginner’s mindset with Darryl ‘The Bird Guy’ Jones
‘I regard my seventh book, Curlews on Vulture Street … as my first real writing. You know, this is the one I’m most proud of. It was the biggest challenge and the one I enjoyed the most.’ Darryl Jones is a Professor of Ecology at Griffith University in Brisbane, where for over 30 years he…
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Ep 63 How not to write a memoir with author Bronwyn Birdsall
After contracting glandular fever as a child (aka mono), Bronwyn Birdsall ended up with such bad chronic fatigue, she missed six months of school. This was at a time when there was still significant stigma surrounding the illness. Bronwyn grew up in Sydney. At age 24, she moved to Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and worked…
Ashley Kalagian Blunt 