BRIAN PALMU

Brian Palmu for DESK SPACE

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

BRIAN PALMU Brian Palmu, gambler, poetry book reviewer.

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

BP My first prose fiction stylings began at 8 or 9, sports reporting humour; I composed and proffered a quaintly racy ballad sans refrain to a high school sweet heart (and other) throb; my second poetic entry rudely sprouted in 1979, and, undaunted, I’ve continued to write bad verse ever since. My first reviews were published by Canadian Notes & Queries earlier this year.

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

BP At the kitchen table, in bed, at the beach, in my head upon awakening.

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)?

BP My work entails cat-on-mouse concentration on the computer for six plus hours a day, so, when writing, I prefer another location so’s to become better acquainted with the rest of the house.

DS What are you working on now?

BP Two essays of political satire; three poetry book reviews for Canadian Notes & Queries; an arrangement of twenty or so of my own verses, voiced as a CD in collaboration with Sacha Fassaert’s jazz guitar; and organization of a reading in Gibsons, BC, Nov 14, for poets Peter Trower, Heather Haley, and Lyle Neff.

Coming up

This week on DESK SPACE: Brian Palmu

ALEXANDRA LEGGAT

Alexandra Leggat for DESK SPACE

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

ALEXANDRA LEGGAT I'm a writer and a book addict. My newest collection of short stories is called Animal and I just finished reading a series of graphic novels called the Colour of Water, The Colour of Earth and the Colour of Heaven by the Korean manhwa author Kim Dong Hwa - I highly recommend it. It's beautiful, on every level, which is why I wanted to tell you all.

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

AL I started writing when I was six. I remember the first poem I wrote and where I wrote it. It's all I did then, and now, I guess. My first book was published when I was in my late twenties - I think.

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

AL I'm writing freehand right now, so I have the luxury of writing anywhere, anytime. However, I get down to serious business, pull a story or book or article all together, in the sanctity of my loft, my office. No, its more than an office - my sanctuary.



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)?

AL I love working in my loft at my big white harvest table that doubles as a desk (a very heavy piece of furniture that my dad and I transported on top of my old '67 Monte Carlo from an auction way the hell out in Fort Erie to my home) because it's spacious and harmonious. I'm up in the sky here, amongst the tips of the trees, like being in a tree house. The room is bright and airy. I feel detached from everything - domesticity, humans, all the stuff that can weigh me down when I'm trying to escape into my work, my psyche. I can escape here, clattering away on my computer at my big old harvest table in my loft in the sky - truly escape. And I watch people without them knowing I'm watching, like a hawk, a falcon - you know, all those crazy raptors.



DS What are you working on now?

AL I'm writing my new book, which I started the second Animal came out. A nice surprise, to be able to embark on something new right away - and happily.