Invisible Publishing Archives

Elisabeth de Mariaffi is a gifted writer and poet who lives in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Her 2012 short story collection How to Get Along with Women is extraordinarily moving, emotionally jarring, texturally precise, and it was longlisted for the 2013 Giller Prize with good reason. Of her work, author Michael Winter once astutely said, “She’s alive to what disturbs, and she’s dead to cliche.” Elisabeth’s work has been featured in prominent periodicals and her story “Kiss Me Like I’m The Last Man On Earth” was nominated for a 2013 National Magazine Award. She is also one of the founders of Toronto Poetry Vendors, a small press that sells single poems by established Canadian poets through toonie vending machines. De Mariaffi has a new novel coming out this January via HarperCollins Canada called The Devil You Know and she’s appearing at the Eden Mills Writers’ Festival on Sunday Sept. 14. Here, she and I talk about the weather in St. John’s, living between Toronto and Guelph and Newfoundland, meeting St. John’s current poet laureate George Murray, Book Ninja, working for an airline during a long distance relationship, just married, working at Ed Video Media Arts Centre and learning about video editing, writing poetry under the tutelage of Dionne Brand and short stories with Michael Winter, flying together, finding the time and resources to write the stories in How To Get Along With Women, short stories versus long stories, travelling to Hungary a lot as a kid, learning several languages, politics and perception and the tangible impact of the Cold War, how I thought How To Get Along With Women would be funny but it was actually very heavy, the politics of our day-to-day existence, relationships and power dynamics, fear, the whole literary prize nomination deal, writing a novel while the iron was hot, Invisible Publishing, working at Breakwater Books, having four kids and jobs as writers, NO, her new novel The Devil You Know and its relation to fear, February 1993 in the weeks that Paul Bernardo was being pursued by police, darkness, writing more short stories or another novel, sending wedding thank yous, the future, and then the end.

Related links: invisiblepublishing.com twitter.com/ElisabethdeM edenmillswritersfestival.ca

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Andrew Nathan Hood is a published author who lives in Guelph. He wanted to interview me because he’s working on a book about Jim Guthrie for Invisible Publishing’s Bibliophonic series and so I said “sure.” For this 100th episode of the show, I present Andrew prying into my life by asking me about why we’re doing this, the band Captain Co-Pilot that I was in with Dallas Wehrle and Steve Lambke before they formed Constantines, people I used to make music with in Cambridge, Ontario, how I got into drumming via road trips in my parents’ car, lying to my parents about owning drums, lying about Superchunk and Tom Robbins, rear-ending my high school principal, storing illegal drums, Steve’s mom likes my drumming, playing the Albion Hotel in 1996, playing music with Jim, seeing Bluetip at 10 Ontario Street, merging hardcore and indie-rock scenes, punk rock, my tiny ex-girlfriend who caught Jim’s eye, the Hubble Bunk and Coby Dowdell, Holocron, Dioctave, Venus Cures All, Plumtree and community, recording a Captain Co-Pilot album with Jim and James Ogilvie, enjoying the Beatles, Justin Stayshyn, Stephen Evans, it got louder, the song “Where Have All The Heroes Gone?” and Jim’s notes on it, 517 the man, Jim might’ve been high, Steve McCuen and speech impediments, the gift of gab and generous humanity, Tim Kingsbury and nice, cool people in Guelph, the beginning of Three Gut Records, Gentleman Reg and his red minivan, Aaron Riches and Royal City and Leslie Feist, Aaron setting up Fugazi shows in Guelph and propelling people like Jim to do stuff, King Cobb Steelie and moving to Toronto, Lisa Moran and Tyler Clark Burke, my road managing Royal City’s first U.S. tour which lasted three weeks, Nick Craine, Feist being in Royal City, when crossing the border was easy, Nathan Lawr, it’s business and it’s personal, when Royal City stopped, the power of Constantines, seeing The Late Show with David Letterman and wearing coveralls for work like Steve Albini, the Constantines song “Nighttime/Anytime (It’s Alright)” and Jim’s notes on it, disbelief about things in The Believer, Andrew’s bare bum, why Jim is influential, Stuart Berman’s This Book is Broken, when Kurt Cobain died and live music venues went disco in the 90s, Arcade Fire, why people like Jim and his music, the fact that Jim wrote the “Hands in my Pocket” ad jingle, McDonald’s, Jim’s genius as a pop songwriter, Jim’s award-winning and lucrative work as a composer of video game soundtracks, Jim knows stuff, Jim O’Rourke, Stewart Gunn and Beethoven, Jim’s open-minded curiosity, making money by doing the thing you love and employing your skillset, the Jesus Lizard and American Express, Invisible Publishing’s Bibliophonic series, Tom Clancy books, why are we doing this again?, Jim gets surprised because he’s modest, Jim’s Juno nomination and our 2004 trip to Winnipeg, Canada has a small music scene, championing, Jim’s terrible car accident, the song “Before and After” and good lord, it’s done.

Related links: andrew-n-hood.blogspot.ca jimguthrie.org vishkhanna.com

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