Local author explores writing’s potential in new collection

Spence

Crescentwood

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/09/2024 (602 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Words have the power to move people in profound ways.

Jenny Heijun Wills, a professor of English at the University of Winnipeg, was born in Seoul, Korea, but was adopted and raised by a white family in southern Ontario. Her award-winning 2019 memoir, Older Sister. Not Necessarily Related, earned rave reviews for its lyrical exploration of gender, class, racial, adoption, and ethnic complexities. On Saturday, Sept. 21, Wills is set to launch Everything and Nothing At All, a new collection of essays as part of the Winnipeg International Writers Festival.

“I’ve been thinking of as a sibling to that first work, as opposed to a sequel,” Wills said. “I think it represents some of the contexts in which that first book emerged. My memoir was first stab at creative writing, so all these essays came afterwards, but they do span, in terms of life narrative, times before, during, and since.

“When I say they offer context, that memoir was very feelings-forward and emotion-centred, while this book is maybe more cerebrally focused, though that’s not to say it’s a scholarly book. It’s about the other pieces that make up who I am.”

While Wills has written academically on similar subjects in the past, Older Sister and Everything and Nothing At All allowed her to flex some creative writing muscles while exploring different tools within her writer’s toolbox.

“In the first book, I was doing a lot of, hopefully, conversing with the different authors and poets whom I admire,” the Crescentwood resident explained. “In this case, I was thinking much more strategically about what it means to be a writer, and what kind of tools are at our disposal. I think I was more conscientious about elements of craft — as obnoxious as that sounds — and what craft can do for us and what we can do with it, and how we can deploy it in interesting directions.”

While Wills is quick to note she is not a poet, she has learned a few tricks from the poets she admires, and has attempted a few experiments that draw from the freedom of form poets are able to practice.

“One way … is I’m thinking a lot about arrangement on the page, more even than chronology or order,” she said. “Not to say I’m a poet in any sense, but I was contemplating the effects of how text looks on the page.”

Another challenge Wills has taken on with her new work is voicing the audiobook, as well.

“It was interesting, because I think I’m pretty soft-spoken. But the team seemed to agree that it was a good parallel for the content of the book,” she said. “I was learning new things that I’ll be able to apply (to my writing) in the future.”

The launch of Everything and Nothing At All will also feature short readings from authors Jason Stefanik and Roan Regan, followed by a reading from Wills and a conversation with U of W colleague and fellow author Lindsay Wong. A question-and-answer period, as well as a book signing, will follow. It all begins at 7 p.m., Sept. 21, at McNally Robinson Booksellers in Grant Park Shopping Centre (1120 Grant Ave.)

“I think it’s really important to try to share the stage, especially with other writers of colour and/or Indigenous writers,” Wills said. “I’m so proud to be a Winnipeg writer. I don’t know where people associate me with, because I’ve lived all over. But I feel so excited and honoured and anchored to Winnipeg. It’s literally the best.”