Sunday, November 12, 2023

Six Questions interview #196 : Robin Blackburn McBride

Robin Blackburn McBride lives in Gatineau, Quebec. She is the author of a novel, The Shining Fragments, and a volume of poetry, In Green, both published by Guernica Editions. The Shining Fragments is an Editors’ Choice selection in Historical Novels Review. Robin is also the author of a self-help book, Birdlight: Freeing Your Authentic Creativity. Her short stories and poems have appeared in a variety of North American literary magazines, most recently in Voices de la Luna, Flights, The MacGuffin, El Portal, and flo. To learn more about Robin’s work, visit her website: www.robinblackburnmcbride.com.

Q: How long have you been in Ottawa and what first brought you here?

A: I moved here in 2016, a year of emotional extremes. My aunt and uncle in Gatineau had become terminally ill. That spring, I made several trips from Toronto to visit them and to help Tante Monique find a care home for Uncle Derek.

The two had been a beautiful, funny, fiercely intelligent, and vital couple in my life since they first connected in 1980. Spending time with them in Ottawa and Gatineau had always bordered on magic.

In June of 2016, a few weeks after Monique died, I returned to their empty house thinking I was about to get it ready for sale. But sitting in the backyard on that first morning, I heard my aunt’s voice in my head. And it occurred to me—I didn’t need to sell the house. We could live here. Within minutes, I was on the phone to my husband and we’d made the decision to move.

Q: How did you first get involved in writing and subsequently the writing community here?

A: I was a bookish kid and began imagining being a writer in third grade. Later, I had an inspiring middle school teacher, John Armstrong, who typed everything I wrote between 1976 and 1979—a hundred pages of adolescent suspense stories and poems. Mr. Armstrong helped me believe I could write books.

After studying drama and English literature at university, and working as an actress for a few years, I went on to train as a teacher. While I scribbled in cafés and walk-in closets during my twenties, it wasn’t until my thirties that I got purposeful at writing again. Looking back, I think the delay had to do with being a young woman in an old system, becoming a mother and, in our culture, losing confidence in my early dreams. After my first marriage ended and I began the journey of a single parent in a tiny Toronto apartment, pouring energy into my raising my daughter, and also being prepared and present for my students, somehow I freed up space for writing. A homecoming.

My first book of poetry came out in 2002. Next, I wrote and revised my debut novel over a decade of teacher holidays, remarried, and released my twenty-year teaching job in order to focus on writing and life coaching. When I moved to Gatineau, initially my top priorities were to look after my uncle and his care, and to re-establish my coaching practice. Even though I’d just brought out a book on creativity and was waiting for Guernica to publish The Shining Fragments, it was as a coach and speaker that I initially got to know people here.

In November of 2022, after the pandemic had peaked, instead of returning to local gatherings as a life coach (though I still do that important work), I reached out to find connection among local writers. Attending the Ottawa Small Press Fair was an important first step.

Q: How did being in such a community of writers shift your thinking about writing, if at all?

A: That remains to be seen, since I’m still new to this writing community.

On the topic of shifts (though a slight departure from your question), one I’d love to see, and perhaps be a part of, is the establishment of a creative writing centre or annual conference for writers in Ottawa. Or both. In a city that punches over its weight in the literary arts, the absence of those things here seems strange. And of course, if I’ve missed something (which is entirely possible), let me know. I’d appreciate hearing from anyone who’s already working on such a project, or who may be interested in sharing ideas. It would be great to learn more and to help.

Q: What do you see happening here that you don’t see anywhere else? What does Ottawa provide or allow?

A: Ottawa is a nation’s capital, yet in many ways it has the charms of a small town. I’ve felt at home getting to know other writers in the literary community here. I’ve also been moved by the depth, scope, and social relevance of the talks I’ve attended at the Ottawa International Writers Festival. To have nationally and internationally renowned authors dropping in for discussions over two extensive seasons each year, and to have those conversations feel so cozy and accessible—that makes Ottawa stand out.

Q: Have any of your projects responded directly to your engagements here? How have the city and its community, if at all, changed the way you’ve approached your work?

A: Beginning to engage in this community has been inspiring, and inspiration goes a long way.

When I hosted a book table at the Ottawa Small Press Fair last November, I had the good fortune of meeting the organizers of the 241 Open Mic, a poetry series they were hosting on the last Thursday of each month. Those open mic events sparked me to read my poetry to live audiences again. It had been a long time. At the small press fair, I also met other Ottawa poets, writers, publishers, and editors, including members of the team at Arc Poetry Magazine, based here in Ottawa. Subscribing to Arc has been one great way of reading current Canadian poetry. And I discovered Bywords, a treasured online resource for writers and literature lovers in the Ottawa area, as well as the Riverbed Reads series which I’ve since enjoyed. At the same small press fair, another conversation led to my submitting work to the Ottawa-based literary magazine flo, and having short fiction and poetry published in Issues 3 and 4. In the picture on this page, I’m holding a copy of flo Issue 4, Reverie.

Q: What are you working on now?

A: I’m writing new poems.

I’m also finishing revisions to my second novel, River of Dreams. Set in Toronto in 1914 and the early 1920s, it’s a hybrid of literary, historical, and metaphysical fiction. Picture a young Anna Paquin as the main character.

River of Dreams tells the story of Avery Conlon who, at age twelve, falls through a river of ice and drowns. The ones who drag her from the water, and up onto the frozen bank, declare her dead. But she’s not dead. She’s revived. And when Avery awakens, she can see things other people can’t see. She can hear things other people can’t hear. And she can feel things other people can’t feel. Years later, as a nurse at a mental hospital, Avery learns to use her gifts to save women shut away for their psychic injuries. It becomes her quest—one she’s forced to keep a secret. But will she be exposed? Dismissed as a freak? What happens when she falls in love? Can Avery stay true to her gifts and her calling?