IAN LETOURNEAU

Ian LeTourneau for DESK SPACE


DESK SPACE Who (a one-liner or a bio)?

IAN LETOURNEAU Ian LeTourneau is a transplanted Maritimer currently living in Athabasca, Alberta, which is about 150 kms north of Edmonton. His poems have been published in many magazines across Canada, including The Malahat Review, Arc, The Fiddlehead, The Antigonish Review and Event. In 2006 Gaspereau Press published a chapbook of poems, Defining Range, and in 2008 Thistledown Press published Terminal Moraine, a full-length collection.



DS When did you start writing, publish your first book (or when are you publishing your next)?

IL I started writing in junior high, like most writers I suppose, but only seriously in my mid-twenties or so. I think it helped to have good teachers who impressed on me the need to read, read and read, especially early stuff. I still find the poetry of the Renaissance and Elizabethan periods some of my favourite—Wyatt, Sidney, Marlowe, etc.


DS Where do you write (at your desk/outside/in bed)?

IL Mostly in the black Ikea chair (pictured in the corner of my office). Sometimes I’ll sit at the desk, but I get too distracted by the birds and other wildlife in the back yard. There’s a small river not too far behind our house, so there’s lots of activity. Deer are frequent visitors, but there have been moose hanging out for about a week at a time. Every once in a while a coyote will venture into the yard, and once I saw a grey wolf. And I didn’t see it, but a bear ate all our compost (a neighbor down the street saw the bear that same morning).




DS Why do you work where you do (at your desk because it is a quiet space/outside b/c it helps you think/in the park b/c you can smoke, etc)?

IL Because my office is the only private space I have in the house.




DS What are you working on now?

IL Finding time to write! But seriously I’m just starting to write new poems for my second collection, trying to fine-tune some short stories I’ve been working on forever, and occasionally writing on my blog, ianletourneau.ca.