JWT BookAdventures – Q & A interview with rob mclennan,
, during which i was, as they say, interviewed;
Last week I was interviewed by JWT BookAdventures, an interview that was posted in sections across their social media accounts, from their bsky account to instagram (posted in three parts there: here and here and here). For the sake of reading ease, I thought it might be worth posting the entire interview here (that’s okay, right?). You should follow them to see what other interviews emerge!
What is your book about?
On Beauty (University of Alberta Press, 2024) is a collection of short stories, each of which focus on small, intimate moments and character study. I am interested in the minutae of daily movement.
Is your book a stand- alone book or a book series?
On Beauty is not part of a series, but there are threads in a couple of these stories that extend from my second novel, missing persons (The Mercury Press, 2009). Since this collection was completed, I’ve been working on a further collection of short stories that extends some of those threads even further, as well as a novel. We shall see where that goes.
What inspired you to write this book or book series?
I had originally attempted a novel circa 2000 or so with a gathering of characters, and the story wasn’t really cohering. I knew I had a particular character that was reacting to a backstory that I better needed to understand, so began writing missing persons as her backstory, and that project took over. Some of the first stories in On Beauty occurred because Ottawa poet Amanda Earl mused on where the main character of missing persons, the girl Alberta, might be now. Huh, I thought. That is a good question. Where might she be?
Who is your inspiration for writing in general?
I don’t have a specific inspiration per se, but there have been possibly dozens, if not hundreds, of writers over the past forty years that have prompted me to keep going, move further, attempt that next thing. Lately, I’ve been reading Alina Stefanescu, and startled by the richness of her poems. Lydia Davis is always a favourite.
What motivates you as a writer?
There’s so much still to do and see and learn! I’m always excited about the possibilities of new projects.
When did you start your journey as an author?
I had a social group during my high school years of other like-minded folk, peers who were also attempting poems and stories and writing songs, which felt an important prompt. More than three decades later, Chris Page is still producing albums [you should follow his substack here], and Louis Patrick Leroux is still producing plays. Our late pal Clare Latremouille even published a novel, back in 2006.
Any more plans to write any more stand-alone books or other books series or carrying on with the book series?
I am constantly working. I’ve two poetry titles out this year, as well as a book-length essay, and I’ve been poking at two further poetry manuscripts over the past couple of months. Really, I’ve been most of the past two years focused on two large non-fiction projects as well, including a genealogical project attempting to counterpoint the stories within the genealogical threads of my recently-discovered biological families against the family I was adopted into. Once those projects are completed, I’m hoping to return to the novel manuscript I began during the Covid-era, to see where the character Alberta might end up next.
Any links for your books can go here:
I’ll only include the recent titles, as I’ve some fifty published titles-to-date:
On Beauty (University of Alberta Press, August 2024): https://ualbertapress.ca/9781772127690/on-beauty/
Snow day (Spuyten Duyvil, January 2025):
https://spuytenduyvil.net/Snow-Day.html
the book of sentences (University of Calgary Press, October 2025):
https://press.ucalgary.ca/books/9781773856483/