This neurodivergent poet excited to talk about the power of imagination at Hamilton literary fest

For 33-year-old Hamilton author Jaclyn Desforges, finding the right writing style that spoke to her didn't happen over night. It has taken a lifetime of writing to get it right. 

"I really really wanted to be a writer always, but it just felt very scary and I sort of danced around it for a time," Desforges told CBC Hamilton, ahead of the poetry workshop she's part of during this weekend's Hamilton literary festival, Gritlit, which kicks off Thursday evening. 

Desforges said she had a passion to write stories before she could even pick up a pen or put words together by herself.

Looking at a childhood picture, she said one of her earliest memories is telling her mom stories and asking her to write them down as she was too young to write them herself. "I was probably three," she said. 

Three decades later, Desforges is one of 30 authors taking part in the festival, which is running a hybrid — in-person and online — edition for the first time. It's the first time Desforges will be a panelist, after attending the event in the past.

Desforges is one of three writers who will discuss "mysticism, magic, and mental health" — and their new poetry collections — on Saturday. She is also leading a workshop Sunday on "writing your inner world."

The festival also includes a virtual interview with former CBC host Ralph Benmergui on Thursday, a virtual reading on "Montreal stories" hosted by author and journalist Kamal Al-Solaylee on Friday, an in-person reading by Hamilton author Lawrence Hill Saturday evening and a panel featuring local writers including Jolie Phuong Hoang on Sunday, among other events. 

 Jennifer Gillies, Gritlit's artistic director, said the team is excited about the hybrid format. 

"We've learned that there is a real appetite out there for online programming and we are hearing from people from all different communities, from across Canada [and] from different countries," she said.

She said having both online and offline events has helped them expand their audience and also the range of authors from across the country.

"We are able to connect with a lot of authors, who under other circumstances might not have been able to attend the festival but can commit to, you know, carving out an hour-and-a-half to do an online event and to be part of things that way." 

Finding her writing voice

The festival features a range of writers and Desforges's own body of work reflects that range. 

She went to Centennial College for journalism and did some reporting, ghostwriting and writing for magazines but they weren't necessarily the stories she wanted to write most, she said. 

The articles "weren't really in my own voice."

When she went on maternity leave in 2014 after having her daughter, Desforges says she finally had some time to herself to reflect on what kind of writing interested her — something a bit more imaginative. 

"That moment sort of, it gave me [a] pause," she says. 

During nights while up with her daughter, she would write things down on her phone, one-handed, as thoughts came to her mind. It became clear creative writing was her passion. 

She later put out her first full-length poetry collection called Danger Flower. The poems are about the period between her younger, teenage days and the years after her daughter's birth.

Danger Flower was picked up as one of CBC Books' picks for the best poetry collection in 2021.

Desforges has also published a children's book, Why are you so quiet, and is currently working on a collection of short stories.

But, she says, "poetry really is my true voice." Expressing the joy after opening the first box with copies of her poetry collection, she said: "I really just felt so overwhelmed with gratitude and happiness."

A mind for poetry

"I am a neurodivergent poet and I have [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] and I am on the autism spectrum as well. I think that that's part of the reason why my poetry resonates so much."

"I think my brain is very well designed to make unexpected leaps between things," she said.

Desforges writes about nature, animals, botany, strange plants and insects, tied into her own experiences of motherhood and of facing mental health challenges. 

"I see my work as being the work of my heart, it's very much my soul," she said.

"It feels very intimate."

Writing has also been a help to Desforges.

"I do remember feeling isolated at different points of my life and feeling very alone and feeling different from others and writing has just opened up my world so much," she said. "It has allowed me not only to get to know myself better by writing about my experiences but also to connect with other poets."

To gather her thoughts, Desforges says she spends a lot of time alone sitting by her window, sipping coffee. 

She does not listen to anything while she does this and focuses completely on her imagination.

"Imagination has been the tether of my life," she said, giving the example of how she would pretend to be an exiled princess cleaning her house, at the age of five.

She said tapping into that imagination is what she will be teaching at the workshop this weekend.

"I really believe that my subconscious mind is a much better poet than my conscious mind."