Read the Hammer, Fall 2021
Below we hear from five of our fabulous local Hamilton writers with recently published books. Get to know their books, their favourite local independent bookstores, the books they love, and how Hamilton influences their writing.
I Thought He Was Dead. Ralph Benmergui. Wolsak & Wynn. $20.00, 289 pp., ISBN: 978-1-989496-33-6
Ralph Benmergui
I Thought He Was Dead, Wolsak & Wynn, September 2021
About the Book
When Ralph Benmergui discovered he was literally hours away from a deadly heart attack he realized his life had changed. He was entering the autumn of his life, as he saw it, and he was being dragged into it by his heels. What follows this awakening is a funny, profound and generous look at where he has come from – from his childhood as the youngest son of Moroccan immigrants, to his experiences during the early years of YukYuks, to his long and storied career at CBC, along with much more – to where he is now, with stents in his arteries, having survived two bouts of cancer, hosting a much-loved podcast and a with practice in Hashpa’ah, Jewish Spiritual Direction. Along the way Benmergui looks critically at what it means to grow old in our society and challenges the reader to push against the stereotypes, to find a new purpose, and to claim the title and role of elder in a society that demands we strive to stay “forever young.”
Q&A With Ralph Benmergui
What does it mean to you to be a Hamilton area author?
It's an honour, really. Hamilton has so many gifted writers. From Barwin to Bokma, Terptsra to Hill, the list is long. A great indie scene and publishers like mine - Wolsak & Wynn.
How has the experience of the pandemic changed how you write, if it has?
In my case, it's given me more time to write. When everything slowed down, time and space expanded. I was able to fill it with words.
Tell us about your favourite local (Hamilton and surrounding area) bookstore and why it’s great.
Epic. It's one of the reasons we chose Kirkendall. Sometimes it's just so nice to walk in, browse the titles, talk to Jaime or fabulous authors like Joe Ollmann, and then be on my merry way.
What is one book written by a local (Hamilton and surrounding area) author that you’re looking forward to reading, or that you’ve already read and loved?
Okay, I'll cheat and choose two: John Terpstra's The Boys: Or, Waiting for the Electrician’s Daughter, and Gary Barwin's, Nothing the Same, Everything Haunted: The Ballad of Motl the Cowboy.
Danger Flower. Jaclyn Desforges. Palimpsest Press. $19.95, 80 pp., ISBN: 978-1-989287835
Jaclyn Desforges
Danger Flower, Palimpsest Press, September 2021
About the Book
A baby transforms into a reverse mermaid in a baptism gone wrong. After being stepped on, a snail exacts revenge. In Danger Flower, Jaclyn Desforges leads enlightened witnesses through a wild garden where archetypal tales are treated with tongue-in-cheek irreverence. Amidst nesting dolls and opossums, poison oak and Tamagotchis, the poet navigates gender roles, sexual indiscretions, episodic depression, and mothering, forming essential survival strategies for a changing world. Danger Flower is a necessary debut.
Q&A With Jaclyn Desforges
What does it mean to you to be a Hamilton area author?
I feel really jazzed and honoured in general to be a Hamilton author. When I first started writing seriously, I was living in Toronto, and participating a little bit in the literary scene, which was wonderful. And then I moved out to Hamilton and was blown away immediately by the kindness and openness I experienced here. I worked with Gary Barwin when he was the writer in residence at the Hamilton Public Library, and he was so generous and helpful. I did an incredible mentorship with Miranda Hill (thank you, RBC/PEN Canada!) Before the pandemic, I taught writing workshops around my kitchen table here in Hamilton, and I was so impressed with the creativity and talent I encountered. I’ve only lived here for a few years, but I feel like I’ve made real connections with the literary community. The bookstores, the library, the readers. There are such fabulous people here. It’s a wonderful place to be a writer.
How has the experience of the pandemic changed how you write, if it has?
The pandemic brought into focus for me something that was already true: there are waxing times and waning times when it comes to creativity. I struggled to write at all in 2020, and I suffered deeply about it. Looking back, I wish I had surrendered to the energetic tide of the time and simply laid down more throughout that awful year, or played Animal Crossing or something. Instead, I forced myself to sit and write when I was deeply isolated and paralyzed with fear. Similarly, I wish I had relaxed more when my daughter was born, and spent more time staring at her and taking long naps than worrying about work. But those were good lessons to learn, even if they were difficult. I know now that hibernation happens, that it often precedes a period of intense productivity, and that we can’t see the fruits of our work in the physical world until they’re ready. Sometimes that process involves a long sleep. I’m waking up now, very gradually, and making poems I’m incredibly proud of. I hope that when my next rest time comes, in whatever form, I will welcome it with less resistance.
Tell us about your favourite local (Hamilton and surrounding area) bookstore and why it’s great.
How can I ever choose – they’re all so wonderful! I will say that King West Books has the added benefit of being attached to Mixed Media, so you can buy pens and notebooks at the same time you’re picking up new books. And the last time I was in there, they still had a couple of copies of my chapbook, Hello Nice Man (Anstruther Press, 2019), the precursor to Danger Flower. It’s out of print now, so it’s a collector’s item!
What is one book written by a local (Hamilton and surrounding area) author that you’re looking forward to reading, or that you’ve already read and loved?
Can I pick three? Sleeping Funny by Miranda Hill, We Like Feelings. We Are Serious. by Julie McIsaac, and Precious Energy by Shannon Bramer, who doesn’t live here anymore but was born here, I believe. Get all three! Read them in a row. Shivers.
Mechanical Monkeys. Darrell Epp. Mosaic Press. $21.95, 128 pp., ISBN: 978-1-771615525
Darrell Epp
Mechanical Monkeys, Mosaic Press, June 2021
About the Book
A new collection of poems from Darrell Epp. His previous two collections of poems, After Hours, ( 2016, Second revised printing 2017 ) and Sinners Dance ( 2018 ), both published by Mosaic Press received very wide critical acclaim.
Q&A With Darrell Epp
What does it mean to you to be a Hamilton area author?
It means a LOT. I love Hamilton and it inspires me daily. And trends happening here are happening in other places, so digging deep here has been a great way to talk about some far-reaching societal currents.
How has the experience of the pandemic changed how you write, if it has?
Actually, the year BEFORE the pandemic was a really hard one for me, and things have just got better since then...I chose to find the pandemic inspirational; obstacles exist to be overcome. Look at Rembrandt van Rijn, painting his last masterpieces as the repo man was literally taking his furniture away - we should all aspire to be as defiantly resolute, I think.
Tell us about your favourite local (Hamilton and surrounding area) bookstore and why it’s great.
I am so grateful for the lovely indie bookstores in our area! My favourite is The Printed Word at 69 King West in Dundas, so astonishingly well-curated it'll leave you smiling all day.
What is one book written by a local (Hamilton and surrounding area) author that you’re looking forward to reading, or that you’ve already read and loved?
I'm going to break the rules and mention more than one here. The Rough Pearl by Kevin Mutch is a thrilling, funny, and scary story about an art teacher who is having a hard time separating his nightmares from reality. Morton by David Collier is a masterfully-told memoir that deals with trains, mortality, memory - anything that Collier's insatiable and joyful curiosity alights upon. We're blessed to have these world-class creators in our neighbourhood.
Chasing Zebras. Margaret Nowaczyk. Wolsak & Wynn. $22.00, 300 pp., ISBN: 978-1-989496-41-1
Margaret Nowaczyk
Chasing Zebras: A Memoir of Genetics, Mental Health, and Writing, Wolsak & Wynn, November 2021
About the Book
When Margaret Nowaczyk immigrated to Canada with her family from Poland she was determined to be Canadian, whatever that meant, and she was equally determined to be a doctor. Arriving as a teen with an English vocabulary deeply influenced by the few English books she had, including Somerset Maugham's The Painted Veil, Margaret made her way through medical school at the University of Toronto, followed by residencies at Toronto's SickKids until she settled in at McMaster University Hospital as a clinical geneticist. From leaving Communist Poland to enduring the demands of medical school, through living with a long undiagnosed mental illness to discovering the fascinating field of genetics, plunging into the pressures of prenatal diagnosis and finally finding the tools of writing and of narrative medicine, Margaret shares a journey that is both inspiring and harrowing. This is a story of constant effort, of growth, of tragedy and of triumph, and most of all, of the importance of openness. In the end, Dr. Nowaczyk invites us all to see that "life is precious and fragile and wondrous and full of mistakes." And to keep trying.
Q&A With Margaret Nowaczyk
What does it mean to you to be a Hamilton area author?
That is a loaded question! I have never thought of myself as a Hamilton writer. When my husband and I moved here for our jobs, we planned to stay only for two-three years. That was twenty-five years ago. It wasn’t until ten years later that I discovered what a vibrant arts and literary scene Hamilton had and began to enjoy it in earnest. I met many of the talented and accomplished local writers and poets (Gary Barwin, Krista Foss, Christine Miscione to name just a few), attended readings (LitLive!) and festivals (GritLit!) and met my writing group. And while I still think of myself as a newcomer (it’s an immigrant thing) I am quite proud to live here and call Hamilton home.
How has the experience of the pandemic changed how you write, if it has?
Oh, the pandemic. It has done a number on many of us, hasn’t it? For the first few months of the lockdown, I was not able to write at all. Nothing. I signed up for a 30-day prompt e-mailout and did those religiously, but they did not lead to anything. I attended online sessions in narrative medicine which were an emotional life-saver, but it seems that I had spent most of my creativity there. I read books at an alarming rate, alarming, because I retained very little from them. It wasn’t until October 2020 that I finally wrote a first new piece, an account of being a doctor feeling useless during the pandemic (as a pediatric geneticist I had no skills to contribute to managing the pandemic) and the first patient I saw after a five-month hiatus. Since then, I have been busy editing “Chasing Zebras” and writing new material, mainly non-fiction, submitting it and getting rejected. So basically, my literary life is back to normal now, even if I still struggle with coming up with new ideas.
Tell us about your favourite local (Hamilton and surrounding area) bookstore and why it’s great.
For years, my favourite bookstore was the deeply regretted and lamented Bryan Prince Bookseller. It was in my neighbourhood and the staff were amazing. It has its excellent progeny in King West Books which also keeps me in my writing supplies (I write with a fountain pen). And of course, Epic Books on Locke has been ordering books for me for years now.
What is one book written by a local (Hamilton and surrounding area) author that you’re looking forward to reading, or that you’ve already read and loved?
I am partial to Daniel Coleman’s Yardwork if only for its subject—Binkley Crescent, the street I live on. But seriously, it is an amazing book that ties together Indigenous ancestry, genealogical research, and the topography, botany and zoology of our little neck of the woods in magnificent language and with such kindness. Not to mention, my – unnamed – felines make an appearance (as “neighbourhood cats”).
Dark Fire. Bernadette Rule. Ironing Board Press. $24.95, 226 pp., ISBN: 978-1777644000
Bernadette Rule
Dark fire, ironing board press, april 2021
About the Book
Dark Fire tells the true story of the Drews and Lawrences, two young farm families horrifically massacred in the struggle to form a tobacco growers union in 1920s Kentucky. Painstakingly researched and written with rare empathy, Dark Fire invites readers into a detailed recreation of the brief, incandescent lives of four adults and seven children whose murder has long been shrouded in mystery and collective silence.
Q&A With Bernadette Rule
What does it mean to you to be a Hamilton area author?
I have lived in Hamilton for 46 years, longer than anywhere else. The writing community here has been extremely supportive of me and my work. I know the quality of art being produced here, through my Mohawk College radio program, Art Waves, in which I interview Hamilton artists of every kind. Art Waves was inaugurated in 2008, and the field of fascinating artists to interview has never thinned out, but just keeps getting richer. I am so proud and happy to be a Hamilton artist.
How has the experience of the pandemic changed how you write, if it has?
The pandemic has been challenging for everyone in one way or another & life-altering for some. However, as a retired person, I have found that it hasn't impacted me the way it has others. In fact it has offered a kind of spaciousness that has allowed me to focus on writing. I published Dark Fire, my first novel (creative nonfiction, it should be noted) in 2021. This was because the events I describe in the book took place in 1921, and I wanted it to be out in time for the centenary. I also have a chapbook of long poems, Deep Breath, coming out soon from Frog Hollow Press. Two books in one year is remarkable for me. And I have another creative nonfiction novel in preparation to bring out next year. So I have to say that the pandemic has freed up some time for me to work, though I know, and sorely regret, that it has been devastating for others.
Tell us about your favourite local (Hamilton and surrounding area) bookstore and why it’s great.
James MacDonald opened The Printed Word in Dundas several years ago. It's a shop dedicated to rare books, poetry, and children's lit. (Obviously it has a whole range of other books as well.) This is a breathtaking venture in the 21st century and I applaud James. His shop is a treasure house of books and I defy anyone with a love of reading to get in and out quickly. It's a very stimulating space, and I hope his shop remains in its beautiful spot on King Street in Dundas forever!
What is one book written by a local (Hamilton and surrounding area) author that you’re looking forward to reading, or that you’ve already read and loved?
I am a huge fan of Janet Turpin Myers. She is a Burlington writer who is both prolific and brilliant. My introduction to her was through her 2013 coming-of-age novel Nightswimming (Seraphim Editions). Her characters are three-dimensional, her plots have momentum, and she leaves you with much to think about. I love her work and consider her a hidden treasure of Canadian Lit.