Alix Hawley's Blog, page 5

That's the cover line on the May issue of The Walrus, in which I have a new short story, "My Pleasure," about prawns, arson, etc. It's beautifully illustrated by Nicole Xu. I hope you like it.

One of my stories is now on the CBC Literary Awards shortlist (winner announced next week). It's called "Witching," and while I wrote it as a small escape from the eighteenth-century setting of my next book, it's still about love and war. I hope you enjoy.

I'm really happy to have two stories on the CBC Literary Awards Short Fiction Prize longlist this year, in wonderful company. You can read short excerpts from all 28 listed entries here.  My two are set in contemporary life instead of on the frontier: as per the five-word descriptions CBC requested, "Soldier comes home, girlfriend flips"; and "Mother contemplates her Bad Seed." (Those are no "Baby shoes for sale, never worn," but Hemingway got six words . . .).

Here's part two of an interview with the Heartlands site. I'm deep into the next novel draft, so it's been good to think about All True again and how it started for me.

All True got a mention in the New York Times this week, in Philipp Meyer's By the Book interview. Nice to hear it's in good company on a great author's nightstand. 

Very pleased to have been interviewed by Alex Joyner at the Heartlands site.  He had questions about the importance of the land in All True, and about the difficulties of reconciliation--Daniel and Rebecca, Daniel and Black Fish, and the book's different cultures generally.  Thank you!

 Eden Robinson's new novel is out, and I'm proud to have given a jacket quote (thanks to Wordfest for the image). It's a great book "Eden Robinson is more than funny, more than intelligent, more than a novelist—she’s an enchanter. Son of a Trickster creates a terrifically believable teenage character who lives both on the rez and in a witchy soup of blood, sex and magic. Harry Potter goes to reform school. Full of sparks, full of pain, full of joy.”

I was at Rideau Hall in Ottawa last night to watch the 80th installment of the Governor-General's Literary Awards. Very nice place for a party (I especially liked the circus tent-painted reception room and the greenhouse). It was great to watch the winners in all the categories receive their awards, and to revive my slightly rusted French. Especially good to see Madeleine Thien, the Fiction (English) category winner for her beautiful novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing. And after having thoroughly sampled the dessert buffet, my tablemates and I declare the maple syrup dumplings with apple compote the champ.

A lot of us are listening to Leonard Cohen albums today, and some of us wrote about his impact for The Globe and Mail.  As I say in my piece, it's always been the words for me. They're still circling.
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Here's the New York Times review of All True, out this weekend. So happy to be included on this list of debut novels, and to have the book called "surprisingly tranquil and original."