Coming up

This week on DESK SPACE: Chris Eaton

NIGEL BEALE

Nigel Beale for DESK SPACE

DESK SPACE Who?

NIGEL BEALE Motivated by an insane, deep-seated love of books, Nigel Beale has, during the past several years, traveled the globe interviewing an impressive selection of award-winning authors and accomplished booksellers, publishers, collectors and book experts for a radio program he hosts called The Biblio File. Based in Ottawa, Canada, he is a freelance writer/broadcaster who specializes in literary journalism.

DS When did you start writing?

NB At age 2-3, in crayon, on the walls of my father's study. It got noticed.

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

NB I write in all sorts of places. In notebooks in longhand, at coffee shops, in my living room, at art galleries, in theatres and barber shops, walking dark alleys, in airports, on airplanes, in vitro, in situ...you name it.

Once I've got it scrawled on the page, I type it out, in Word, on the computer, and in the process edit it.

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

NB I work at my desk largely because it is surrounded by several bookshelves full of literary criticism.

DS What are you working on now?

NB Quite a range of things. I'm doing some preparatory reading for author interviews to be conducted during The Ottawa International Writers and Toronto Harbourfront Authors Festivals in October, a review of the Turner retrospective currently on at the Met in New York for Border Crossings magazine, and a variety of other deeply rewarding, very poorly paid projects. I also have a novel, mostly finished, that sits up in the attic, wailing occasionally for attention.

www.nigelbeale.com

LAUREN KIRSHNER

Lauren Kirshner for DESK SPACE

DESK SPACE Who?

LAUREN KIRSHNER Lauren Kirshner, novelist, poet, author of Where We Have to Go, forthcoming from McClelland & Stewart in April 2009.

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

LK I started writing when I was about 11. I wrote a poem about a man who falls in love his neighbour who looks just like Marlene Dietrich. When I transitioned into writing about gerbils and families my parents seemed relieved.



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

LK I write at my desk, which is in my bedroom, or I sit in my pink armchair. I live above a restaurant on a busy street so there's always ambient noise. I sometimes enjoy it, especially the sound of the streetcar when it's raining. I have three cats and there's usually one bouncing off a chair or a wall so I'm never at a loss for stimulation. I wish my desk was more interesting, something along the lines of David McGimpsey's. Right now it's an Ikea slab I got for free from someone who suddenly left the country.

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)?

LK I work at my desk because I like the routine and quiet. If I go to a cafe, I usually end up watching people and feeling urgently social.

DS What are you working on now?

LK I'm editing my novel and fiddling here and there with an untitled collection of poems about zoos. In the winter, I'll begin working on the creative writing curriculum for The I Live Here Foundation's education program, which builds artistic opportunities for vulnerable youth around the world.

Coming up

This week on DESK SPACE: Lauren Kirshner