Recap: day two

There is something so decadent about a room full of people listening to authors talk about process, and work habits, and other authors during the middle of the day.

There is something so decadent about a room full of people listening to authors talk on a beautiful fall day.

What do you do with such privilege? The ability to ignore the (fleeting) sun, the need to earn money under the sun.

What do you do with such privilege? You enjoy it, because it's yours and things could be MUCH worse.

You enjoy that art and story is available, that you are one of many gathered in the interest of art and story, and you watch the closed and open faces of the others.

It strikes me that the few truly communal experiences we have left are all in the interest of art and story, as we've lost interest (for better or for worse) in more solemn gatherings.

Though the afternoon book chats are meant to be intimate spaces, with room for conversation and interaction with the writers, this felt thronged, in perhaps the best way.

It's my belief that we need to spend time in the dark with a room full of other human beings to be right in the head.

We need to rise to our feet as a group, to feel strong and full-throated, to hurt our hands and to yell yell yell. We need to laugh and hear other people laugh.

And David Bergen and Mary Swan were up to the challenge of a full-to-the-brim afternoon book chat. They were different enough, in terms of process, in terms of writing styles, to spark off each other.

The Q & A portion of the chat was good too, though the majority of the questions were addressed to David. Mary will have to forgive Winnipeg audiences for being so interested in David's brand new book, especially in light of his recent Giller long-listing.

(Mmm. Mary was also long-listed, wasn't she...but you know what I mean.)(Imagine Winnipeg actually being proud of it's successes! But that seems to be where we find ourselves, with two major novelists living in town.)

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Though I was intrigued by Mary's answers to the questions posed her, I wasn't compelled to buy her book until after her Mainstage reading later that night.

She read a selection from her novel? book of linked short stories? that featured a character looking back on his life. A familiar pose that almost caused me to drift off but then, but then. Something about Mary's deep-ish voice, something about this character, this series of recollections.

Part of it was that the character - and the writing - weren't sentimental or precious about their recollections.

Quietly, solidly, Mary caught me. And I wasn't the only one. I watched Miriam Toews, sitting on stage, and she seemed to be getting caught too.

But I'm being unfair only mentioning Mary. Shockingly, I enjoyed EVERY SINGLE READING.

Usually, I usually like 2 of 6 readings. I admire one or two more, for the craft of the story if not the content, and I appreciate the performance of the piece, the performance of the author's personality, in maybe one more.

But to enjoy all the readings? Unprecedented. (Really. I mean it.)

And I wasn't alone, if the masses of people at the book table at the break and after it was all over (also, the attendant flushed exclamations: "Wasn't that GOOD?") was an indication.

Beyond the opportunity to spend some time in the dark with other people, I also appreciated being able to bring my love with me and hold his hand while listening to some very good writing.

I also was very happy, personally, to see two people. Gisela Roger, the administrator of Creative Retirement Manitoba's Senior Writers' Workshop, and Margaret Keller, a friend of my childhood who gets all worked up, and all worked up by reading.

As I walked out into the dark and rain, I was satisfied. By the chat, by the lit, by the writing life.

One final note: Maurice Mierau's poetry and his manner MORE than stood up to the fiction on offer. He came off wry and sad and smart, all very acceptable take-aways for a reading.

I'm very glad that poetry has snuck back onto the main stage besides just (just?) the Saturday Poetry Bash.

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Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg-based writer and editor. Her poetry has recently appeared in PRISM International, The Fieldstone Review, and Prairie Fire. In addition to being Events Coordinator at Aqua Books, Ariel also contributes to the Winnipeg Free Press' Books Section and Prairie books NOW.

A hand-made, limited-edition chapbook of Ariel's poetry, entitled The navel gaze (with Kingsville, ON's Palimpsest Press), will be launched Oct. 1 at Aqua Books.