Deep inspiration

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This article was published 25/03/2023 (1160 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Alissa York is the author of six books, including the novel Effigy, which was shortlisted for the 2007 Scotiabank Giller Prize. Stories from her short fiction collection Any Given Power, published by Winnipeg’s ARP Books, won the Journey Prize and the Bronwen Wallace Award.

Now based in Toronto, where she teaches creative writing at the Humber School for Writing, York spent a number of years in Winnipeg.

She will launch her fifth novel, Far Cry, in person and online on Thursday, March 30 via McNally Robinson Booksellers. Co-presented by the Winnipeg International Writers’ Festival, Bruce Symaka will host.

Winnipeg Free Press: What do you want people to know about Far Cry?

Alissa York: In terms of the narrative itself, the novel is set in Far Cry, a cannery town on B.C.’s northwest coast. It’s 1922, the salmon are running, and the time has come for Anders Viken, storekeeper and erstwhile fisherman, to give an account of his secret self. Meantime, his de facto niece, Kit, moves into the adult space left behind by her father’s death and her mother’s betrayal.

On a thematic level, I suppose Far Cry is about belonging — how we ache to find our place in the world, our people. Sometimes our person. In the end, every book I write is about love, both romantic and familial — how badly we need it, the bargains we make in its service and how far we’ll go in its name.

WFP: Tell me about the writing process for this book. What led you to a fish cannery on B.C.’s northwest coast in the ’20s? And, once you realized Far Cry was set there/then, what kinds of research were necessary?

AY: I think Far Cry started long before I knew I would be a writer. As a kid, I spent many hours in the boat with my father and brother, trawling for salmon, jigging for rockfish. Decades later, when the idea of a salmon cannery began to occupy my mind, I did what I always do — I began to read. Over time, my imagined cannery became grounded in place. It became peopled. I kept reading: about the history of the B.C. salmon fishery; about Vancouver’s multicultural working-class heritage; about life in the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway; about flora and fauna and whaling and shipwrecks and (semi-) surviving the Great War. “Write what you know” doesn’t really do it for me; it’s more about “write what you need to know.”

WFP: Tell me about the title.

AY: Rivers Inlet on the B.C. coast was home to several salmon canneries. One in particular called Good Hope provided inspiration for my fictional town of Far Cry — the name of which came about through trial and error, seeking something that resonated as much as “Good Hope” but did so on a wilder frequency. I had a working title throughout much of the writing process, but the longer I inhabited Far Cry, the more the place demanded top bill. The day I typed it out in all-caps and looked at it on the screen was the day the novel found its name.

WFP: Far Cry is your fifth novel. What have you learned about your process so far, or do you have a new process for every project?

AY: The process evolves over time, but it remains rooted in the symbiotic relationship between in-depth research and imagination. I still read like mad and take copious notes, cross-reference files and cut up full drafts so I can move scenes around on the floor. At base, I try to think/feel clearly and compassionately about a specific group of humans (and very often their fellow creatures). I consider what they need and whether they get it or not. More than anything, I try to get every sentence right.

WFP: Far Cry is definitely a story where “pain and longing are braided together”; there is all kind of violence here, sexual and otherwise. Was any part of this book emotionally difficult for you to write?

AY: Several scenes were daunting, but I’ve never been interested in stories that shy away from the dark. Over the years I’ve realized that my writing brain is wiser than my daily brain, and my writing heart is braver. I can bear all manner of subject matter if it’s necessary to the work.

WFP: You live in Toronto now, but what does it mean to launch your books at McNally Robinson, where you once worked? You’ve lived all over Canada but your time in Winnipeg was fruitful: you published your first book when you lived here.

AY: Winnipeg is where I came to know myself as a writer — where I came to believe the writing life could be mine. McNally Robinson gave me meaningful work surrounded by books and book-lovers. My publishing experience with Arbeiter Ring was golden. What can I say? This is a city that holds the arts dear, and it’s full of people I admire, respect and love. I will always think of it as one of my homes.

Ariel Gordon is a Winnipeg/Treaty 1 Territory writer whose next book will be out in fall 2023.