Guernica Editions

J.R. (Tim) Struthers (Editor)

Here is a lifetime's worth of reflection, of illumination, by one of North America's finest contemporary writers of fiction, autobiography, and nonfiction, founder of the graduate program in Creative Writing at Concordia University in Montreal and for many years Director of the prestigious International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, teacher and mentor to many -- Clark Blaise. Here is a lifetime's worth of urgent and delighted conversation with fellow writers such as Brian Bartlett, Catherine Bush, Alexander MacLeod, and John Metcalf as well as enthusiastic readers such as Barry Cameron, Geoff Hancock, Catherine Sheldrick Ross, and J.R. (Tim) Struthers. This book of eighteen interviews is a gift for all who enjoy reading and writing.

The myth of Canada and Florida is, I think, easy to explain. These are the attractions of polar opposites, quite literally polar opposites, North to South--in my case also compounded by French to English. We love and fear, are attracted to and repulsed by, those forces that we consider to be opposite to our own. We feel somehow that we can draw strength from them.