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The Next Chapter

Miriam Toews, Alison Pick, and Angie Abdou

Writers are often told to "write what you know". But what if "what you know" is intimate or painful? What's the right balance between privacy and revelation? This week on The Next Chapter, Shelagh explores these questions with writers who have delved deep into their personal lives for their recent books.
CBC Radio ·
From the cover of "Between" by Angie Abdou

In this episode (originally aired January 19, 2015):

* Mireille Silcoff on Chez l'Arabe
* Alysha Brilla on Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture by Gaiutra Bahadur
* Personal writing panel with
     * Miriam Toews, author of All My Puny Sorrows
     * Alison Pick, author of Between Gods: A Memoir
     * Angie Abdou, author of Between

"Chez l'Arabe" by Mireille Silcoff, "All My Puny Sorrows" by Miriam Toews, "Between Gods: A Memoir" by Alison Pick, "Between" by Angie Abdou, "Coolie Woman: The Odyssey of Indenture" by Gaiutra Bahadur

BONUS:

Shelagh's extended conversation with Miriam Toews, Alison Pick, and Angie Abdou

Whether poetry, fiction, or memoir, writing can be a compelling drive to sort through and come to terms with personal experience. That would be the case for Shelagh's guests.

Taken backstage at the Waterfront Theatre, Granville Island, at the 2014 Vancouver International Writers Festival. (L-R) Angie Abdou, Miriam Toews, Shelagh Rogers, Alison Pick.

Miriam Toews is the author of a memoir and six novels. Her third novel, A Complicated Kindness, won the 2004 Governor General's Award and the 2006 edition of Canada Reads, making her the first female writer to take that prize. Her latest book, All My Puny Sorrows, is a heartfelt, riveting tale of two sisters, one of whom wants to die. The novel won the 2014 Rogers Writers' Trust Fiction Prize.

Here's what The Guardian newspaper had to say in a review: "I can think of no precedent for the darkly fizzing tragicomic jeu d'esprit that is Miriam Toews's sixth novel. Its compulsive readability is all the more remarkable since the story issues from such a dark place in the author's heart. Uniquely, Toews has created a requiem with an antic disposition."

Alison Pick is a novelist and poet. In 2002, she was the winner of the Bronwen Wallace Award for the most promising writer in Canada under 35. She has also won a National Magazine Award and the CBC Literary Award for Poetry. Her historical novel Far to Go was long-listed for the 2011 Booker Prize.

Now she's turned to memoir with Between Gods, an insightful, compelling book which chronicles her discovery of her Jewish roots and her decision to convert. The Toronto Star writes "Pick is a rare bird: an accomplished poet who also writes lucid prose... [Her] writing ability and keen intellect ensure she's able to navigate such delicate, complex subject matter with compassion and clarity."

Angie Abdou is the author of three novels and a collection of short stories. BC BookWorld called her short story collection, Anything Boys Can Do, an "extraordinary literary debut."  Her novel The Bone Cage was a contender in Canada Reads 2011.

Her latest book, Between, is a darkly funny novel about a the culture clash that occurs when a privileged white woman hires a live-in Filipino nanny. Quill and Quire says of Between: "Abdou has stared fraught subject matter in the face and handled it with grace and humour. Her refreshing novel sympathetically reveals women as they are, flaws and all."

All three of these recent books - All My Puny Sorrows, Between Gods, and Between - are gutsy, un-put-downable, and profound. They also, in their way, take on the subject of depression yet also manage to have humour and heart.

Shelagh spoke with Miriam Toews, Alison Pick, and Angie Abdou on stage at the 2014 Vancouver Writers' Fest.  Here is that complete conversation.