Avalon Moore is a comics artist based out of Nova Scotia that is releasing a few pages of her graphic novel, Between, online every week. Eve Nixen sat down with Avalon to talk about the creative process, relationships and finishing projects, no matter how challenging they become.
Writing about my experience of someone else’s death feels like a million acupuncture needles at once—I know it’s serving some mysterious purpose, but it feels strange, surreal, selfish. I’ve decided to trust that it will do some good, and frankly, I don’t know what else to do.
We come bearing exciting news! Kirsten Fogg’s powerful essay Nana Technology, which won the 2015 carte blanche/CNFC competition for creative nonfiction and appeared in Issue 24 of the magazine, has been adapted by ABC National Radio in Australia.
New Zealander-Canadian author Alice Petersen’s first collection of short stories, All the Voices Cry (Biblioasis) won the 2012 Quebec Writer’s Federation Concordia University First Book Prize. Her newest collection Worldly Goods (Biblioasis) was released in May. Brad de Roo asked her about the object of books and the music of objects for carte blanche this July.
It’s hardly a matter of speculation that Antonio Tabucchi (1943-2012) set his novels Pereira Declares (1994) and Tristano Dies (2004) against the backdrop of European fascism—the former at its onset and the latter after its fall—in order to inquire, by revealing the undisclosed consciousness of his protagonists, to what extent his era was different from theirs, and to what extent it was the same.
Mark Foss is the author of the short-story collection Kissing the Damned and the novel Spoilers. His new novel Molly O (Cormorant Books, 2016) follows Montreal film professor Little Joe’s obsessive search for his missing sister Candy, who may or may not be Molly O, the lead in a series of erotically charged silent, experimental films. When a death sets the stage for reconnecting with his brother Hoss and his father Joseph at the family homestead, Little Joe must relive the rural auctions and wastelands of his past to get to the truth about Candy. Brad de Roo got some cinematic answers from Mark for carte blanche this May.
carte blanche seeks to expand its pool of bloggers in support of our regular literary magazine. We want writing that explores some aspect of literary and artistic culture in Montreal, Quebec, Canada or the wider world. You can feature an event, a trend, a movement, an anecdote, an experience or whatever you think might engage the public in a literary topic. Dug that poetry reading last night? Irritated at that famous writer’s new interview with Book Riot? Up in arms about a literary feud? Give us the skinny!Read more →
I am bad at saying no. As part of a better-late-in-life-than-never self-improvement exercise, I try to turn down extra work—especially the non-paying variety.
So last summer, when Michelle Sylvestre of the Make A Wish Foundation phoned to tell me about a volunteer opportunity—Raphaëlla Vaillancourt, a young survivor of a life-threatening illness, wished to publish a book and needed mentoring—I referred Michelle to Lori Schubert at the Quebec Writers’ Federation.
A few days later, Lori contacted me. If the QWF could fund a mentorship for Raphaëlla, would I take the job?
Kembrew McLeod is a Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa. He is a prolific author, filmmaker, and prankster. His latest book is Blondie’s Parallel Lines (Bloomsbury, 2016) the 111th book in 33 1/3’s series on classic albums. Brad deRoo nerded out via email to get to some intersecting lines from Kembrew McLeod for carte blanche this April. Read more →
RED
The wild strawberry flush across my chest, her cheeks. An illicit kiss in her basement suite.
Five years in, we start counting: two eggs bled away casually every month.
Then, six months of flirting, negotiations. Two hopeful women. A captivated man.