| Louis de Bernières credits the Markin-Flanagan Distinguished Writers Program for "one of the most memorable months of my life."
In an open letter inviting readers to attend the program’s 10th anniversary celebrations, the author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin recalls commencing work on his current novel while visiting Calgary in 1996. "In my small room at the university I wrote and rewrote the first pages of the novel, which I am about to finish, and from whose pages I will be reading. I intend to write the last page when I am with you, so that the circle is neatly completed."
De Bernières will join the distinguished writers celebrating the first 10 years of the Markin-Flanagan program on Friday, September 19. The daylong festival, which includes a series of panel discussions on the craft of writing, will welcome back Anita Badami, Ven Begamudrè, Dionne Brand, Richard Harrison, Larissa Lai, Suzette Mayr, Rosemary Nixon, Peter Oliva, Roberta Rees, Laura Robinson, Richard Sanger and de Bernières. A gala evening reading featuring de Bernières, Badami and Brand caps off the celebration.
Founded in 1993 with a donation to the University of Calgary from philanthropists Alan Markin and Jackie Flanagan, the program has welcomed 10 Canadian writers-in-residence and 31 visiting authors, from Yevgeny Yevtushenko to Ursula K. Le Guin. Hundreds of aspiring writers from Calgary and southern Alberta have met with these authors to discuss their own work – each writer gives free public readings and makes classroom visits as well.
It’s not hard to see how this benefits would-be writers and interested readers. The chance to go over a manuscript with a writer-in-residence has led, both directly and indirectly, to many of the publications by local authors that you’ve read about in these pages over the past few years.
For example, in his book The Scent of A Lie, Calgary writer Paulo da Costa – who followed in de Bernières’s footsteps by winning this year’s Commonwealth Prize for best first book – thanks no fewer than seven Markin-Flanagan writers, along with the program as a whole, for editorial consultations on his manuscript.
But what of the authors themselves? Last week I asked four of the writers-in-residence what they recalled of their time with the program.
Laura Robinson, author of Black Tights: Women, Sport and Sexuality, describes her time in Calgary as "absolutely a life-changing experience." Although she was best known as a courageous investigative writer who exposed patterns of sexual abuse within amateur hockey, Robinson found herself transformed into a playwright during her 200-01 residency. She turned to theatre to tell the story of First Nations runners at the 1967 Pan-American games in Winnipeg. By the close of her residency, her play Frontrunners was premièring in Banff and Calgary.
"I had never dreamed I would write a play," she says during a telephone interview from northern Ontario. "The idea had never crossed my mind." Now she is working full-time with Winnipeg’s Buffalo Gal productions on the film version of Frontrunners for broadcast on CBC and the aboriginal network APTN.
Like Robinson, 1998-99 writer-in-residence Peter Oliva went through a transformation during his year in the program. He took a break from his work as co-owner of Pages on Kensington bookstore and began the process of becoming the full-time writer he is now. He completed the revisions for his second novel, City of Yes, which went on to win the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize.
Oliva does have one regret about his residency, however. Among the authors who came to consult him with their manuscripts was the Guinness World Record-holding multi-instrumentalist. "He could play something like 115 instruments," Oliva recalls. The musician’s real desire, though, was to become an author. As a result of their meeting, Oliva says, the musician "became turned on to writing to such an extent that he sold almost all his instruments and moved to Vancouver Island to pursue the dream. I feel a bit guilty about that."
Along with the writers-in-residence, who spend eight months in Calgary, distinguished visiting writers are hosted over a few days or weeks. When poet and novelist Brand visited in the fall of 1998, she gave joint readings with a friend, the American poet Adrienne Rich. Speaking by telephone from Toronto, what Brand recalls is the sense of connection with writers and readers.
"It’s a wonderful program because when you write it’s a very difficult and solitary thing," she says. "There are moments when you really don’t think anyone’s out there." In Calgary, Brand relished the chance to talk to her readers.
Part of the program’s mandate is to inject creative energy into the city’s writing community, and it got a bargain with 1995-96 writer-in-residence Harrison. He moved his family to Calgary permanently and has become a full-time creative writing teacher at Mount Royal College and an energetic participant in the city’s writing scene.
An invitation from the program is "a tremendous validation of your work, before it exists," says Harrison, who wrote his much-reprinted poetry collection Big Breath of a Wish during his residency.
After 10 years of the Markin-Flanagan program, it’s not surprising that both writing and reading in Calgary are flourishing as never before.
The festival events begin at 10 a.m. on September 19 at the Rozsa Centre on the U of C campus and admission is free. To order free tickets to the evening’s gala reading and reception, call the Campus Ticket Centre, 220-7202. For information on the festival, visit www.markinflanagan.com or call 220-8177. |
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