Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence
WELCOME HIROMI GOTO
The English Department is thrilled to announce that Hiromi Goto will be the 2024 Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence (online).
Hiromi's first novel, Chorus of Mushrooms (1994), received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in the Caribbean and Canada region and was co-winner of the Canada-Japan Book Award. Her short stories and poetry have been widely published in literary journals and anthologies. Her second novel, The Kappa Child (2001), was a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Regional Book and was awarded the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award. Her first children’s novel, The Water of Possibility, was also published that year. Hopeful Monsters, a collection of short stories, was released in 2004. Her YA/Crossover novel, Half World (2009), was long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and received the 2010 Sunburst Award and the Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award. Her long poem, co-written with David Bateman, came out in Fall 2009. Wait Until Late Afternoon is her first book-length poetry publication. Darkest Light, companion book to Half World was the first book released under the new Razorbill Imprint of Penguin Canada. She was 2014 Guest of Honour, with N.K. Jemisin, at WisCon38. Her newest book, Shadow Life (March 2021), is a graphic novel for an adult audience. It is a fresh, funny and layered representation of an older Japanese Canadian bisexual woman who is intent on living her best life on her own terms. Shadow Life is illustrated by Ann Xu. It was the winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (2022) presented by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association.
We had the pleasure of asking Hiromi some pre-WIR questions about craft, experience, and inspiration. We hope you enjoy this insightful conversation and that you join us in welcoming Hiromi Goto as the 2024 Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence at the University of Winnipeg. Check back for information on public events and writing consultations!
How does creativity come to you? Do you feel a rush of inspiration, is it more methodical, something in between, something else?
HG: I experience different kinds of creative moments. The most enjoyable are the flashes of idea/image/sequence that flare inside my head. This is often at a confluence of external stimuli (like a news story, or a conversation, or witnessing something) and extrapolation. I can often picture a scene or a dramatic sequence, visually, in my head. Like a still from a film. Or a short clip. A second level of creativity is more like craftpersonship. It's the building together of components of story, and this is creative work too, but can be rather laborious. Creativity arises in me from the mix of things I've come across in my wanders and held inside of me because there was something potent about them. Over time the images or ideas or questions I've gathered cohere into something that might become a story.
Tell us about one of your favourite experiences as a writer?
HG: A young university student approached me after a class visit and asked to speak to me privately. They were not a student majoring in the Arts, but the story I'd read from, which they'd studied, had spoken to them in a way that story never had before. [They said that] the story made them feel like it had been written for them. They felt seen. If sometimes I waver on this path I've trodden all these decades, I think of this student. And know that it is well.
Who are some of your writing inspirations?
HG: Octavia E. Butler. Ursula K. Le Guin. The land(s) and living beings.
What are your thoughts on/experiences of writing workshop?
HG: I learned a lot from writing workshops and I'm grateful for those experiences. In my first year of taking creative writing workshops I saw some talented writers leave because the workshop experience did not suit their learning needs. This made me appreciate that the workshop isn't the end all and be all of how a writer may grow. As far as I know they do not have creative writing programs at universities in Japan, and yet remarkable works of literature are published every year.... There is something to be said about learning elements of craft. Being able to talk about the components of story is very useful
for all writers during the revisions stage of writing. Writing workshops really help you hone this skill set.
What are some of the challenges of being a writer? What are some of the rewards?
HG: A reliable source of income is always a challenge for writers and artists. Most of my adult life I've worked primarily as a professional writer--this has meant I've lived a modest lifestyle. It suits me, so I have not suffered for it. When my children were young it was challenging to find time to write and attend professional events. I felt frustration and sometimes envied my childless peers. But early in my career writer Sky Lee told me that the children are young for a limited time, and that there would be a lot of time later when I would be able to write. I was heartened by her advice. It helped me focus on a longer game. It is good to have senpais.
Some of the rewards of being a writer is having the luxury of time. I haven't been bound by the nine to five work week, so I can inhabit life in larger pools of time where my mind is free to think, feel, seek, engage.... Other rewards have been being able to meet writers from all over the world, and to have had good teachers and senpais who have shared their wisdom with me. Writers like Lee Maracle, Roy Miki, Fred Wah, and Aritha van Herk. I've also learned so much because of writing peers--we've encouraged each other’s growth over long years. Friends like Rita Wong, Larissa Lai, Kyo Maclear, Nalo Hopkinson, Anne Stone, Emily Pohl-Weary, to name a few. I would also name as friend and teacher the lands where I've lived, the animals and plants who live upon the land. I am always seeking them out--they always have so much to teach me.
Which writers, past, present, or future, would you invite to a dinner party?
HG: I'm a terrible Capricorn-- forgive me! Or maybe this is me, taking this question seriously and literally as a writer of speculative fiction! I really couldn't say who I'd invite (aside from beloved friends) because it's one thing to love a writer's work, and another thing entirely to have to listen to an insufferable person holding forth on "the might of the right" or some such thing while picking out bones with a fork from a piece of overcooked trout served with dill... Would Franz Kafka be an amiable dinner companion? Could Murasaki Shikubu surrender her class expectations to the moment? Maybe my response reveals what I expect from dinner parties rather than which writers I'd like to spend time with... Did I make the dinner? Is it catered? XD I want intimacy at a dinner party. Safety. Honouring the food in good company as much as centering the guests.
How would you metaphorically describe your writing process?
HG: Foraging meets collage meets flying fishing meets pro wrestling.
WELCOME HIROMI GOTO
The English Department is thrilled to announce that Hiromi Goto will be the 2024 Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence (online).
Hiromi's first novel, Chorus of Mushrooms (1994), received the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book in the Caribbean and Canada region and was co-winner of the Canada-Japan Book Award. Her short stories and poetry have been widely published in literary journals and anthologies. Her second novel, The Kappa Child (2001), was a finalist for the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best Regional Book and was awarded the James Tiptree Jr. Memorial Award. Her first children’s novel, The Water of Possibility, was also published that year. Hopeful Monsters, a collection of short stories, was released in 2004. Her YA/Crossover novel, Half World (2009), was long-listed for the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award and received the 2010 Sunburst Award and the Carl Brandon Society Parallax Award. Her long poem, co-written with David Bateman, came out in Fall 2009. Wait Until Late Afternoon is her first book-length poetry publication. Darkest Light, companion book to Half World was the first book released under the new Razorbill Imprint of Penguin Canada. She was 2014 Guest of Honour, with N.K. Jemisin, at WisCon38. Her newest book, Shadow Life (March 2021), is a graphic novel for an adult audience. It is a fresh, funny and layered representation of an older Japanese Canadian bisexual woman who is intent on living her best life on her own terms. Shadow Life is illustrated by Ann Xu. It was the winner of the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature (2022) presented by the Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association.
We had the pleasure of asking Hiromi some pre-WIR questions about craft, experience, and inspiration. We hope you enjoy this insightful conversation and that you join us in welcoming Hiromi Goto as the 2024 Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence at the University of Winnipeg. Check back for information on public events and writing consultations!
How does creativity come to you? Do you feel a rush of inspiration, is it more methodical, something in between, something else?
HG: I experience different kinds of creative moments. The most enjoyable are the flashes of idea/image/sequence that flare inside my head. This is often at a confluence of external stimuli (like a news story, or a conversation, or witnessing something) and extrapolation. I can often picture a scene or a dramatic sequence, visually, in my head. Like a still from a film. Or a short clip. A second level of creativity is more like craftpersonship. It's the building together of components of story, and this is creative work too, but can be rather laborious. Creativity arises in me from the mix of things I've come across in my wanders and held inside of me because there was something potent about them. Over time the images or ideas or questions I've gathered cohere into something that might become a story.
Tell us about one of your favourite experiences as a writer?
HG: A young university student approached me after a class visit and asked to speak to me privately. They were not a student majoring in the Arts, but the story I'd read from, which they'd studied, had spoken to them in a way that story never had before. [They said that] the story made them feel like it had been written for them. They felt seen. If sometimes I waver on this path I've trodden all these decades, I think of this student. And know that it is well.
Who are some of your writing inspirations?
HG: Octavia E. Butler. Ursula K. Le Guin. The land(s) and living beings.
What are your thoughts on/experiences of writing workshop?
HG: I learned a lot from writing workshops and I'm grateful for those experiences. In my first year of taking creative writing workshops I saw some talented writers leave because the workshop experience did not suit their learning needs. This made me appreciate that the workshop isn't the end all and be all of how a writer may grow. As far as I know they do not have creative writing programs at universities in Japan, and yet remarkable works of literature are published every year.... There is something to be said about learning elements of craft. Being able to talk about the components of story is very useful
for all writers during the revisions stage of writing. Writing workshops really help you hone this skill set.
What are some of the challenges of being a writer? What are some of the rewards?
HG: A reliable source of income is always a challenge for writers and artists. Most of my adult life I've worked primarily as a professional writer--this has meant I've lived a modest lifestyle. It suits me, so I have not suffered for it. When my children were young it was challenging to find time to write and attend professional events. I felt frustration and sometimes envied my childless peers. But early in my career writer Sky Lee told me that the children are young for a limited time, and that there would be a lot of time later when I would be able to write. I was heartened by her advice. It helped me focus on a longer game. It is good to have senpais.
Some of the rewards of being a writer is having the luxury of time. I haven't been bound by the nine to five work week, so I can inhabit life in larger pools of time where my mind is free to think, feel, seek, engage.... Other rewards have been being able to meet writers from all over the world, and to have had good teachers and senpais who have shared their wisdom with me. Writers like Lee Maracle, Roy Miki, Fred Wah, and Aritha van Herk. I've also learned so much because of writing peers--we've encouraged each other’s growth over long years. Friends like Rita Wong, Larissa Lai, Kyo Maclear, Nalo Hopkinson, Anne Stone, Emily Pohl-Weary, to name a few. I would also name as friend and teacher the lands where I've lived, the animals and plants who live upon the land. I am always seeking them out--they always have so much to teach me.
Which writers, past, present, or future, would you invite to a dinner party?
HG: I'm a terrible Capricorn-- forgive me! Or maybe this is me, taking this question seriously and literally as a writer of speculative fiction! I really couldn't say who I'd invite (aside from beloved friends) because it's one thing to love a writer's work, and another thing entirely to have to listen to an insufferable person holding forth on "the might of the right" or some such thing while picking out bones with a fork from a piece of overcooked trout served with dill... Would Franz Kafka be an amiable dinner companion? Could Murasaki Shikubu surrender her class expectations to the moment? Maybe my response reveals what I expect from dinner parties rather than which writers I'd like to spend time with... Did I make the dinner? Is it catered? XD I want intimacy at a dinner party. Safety. Honouring the food in good company as much as centering the guests.
How would you metaphorically describe your writing process?
HG: Foraging meets collage meets flying fishing meets pro wrestling.
About Jake MacDonald
The Jake MacDonald Writer-in-Residence Program honours the memory of the beloved Manitoba writer Jake MacDonald, who passed away suddenly and too soon on January 30, 2020. Through the creative thinking and great generosity of Jake’s family, friends, and peers, this program makes possible the kind of work Jake believed in: mentoring emerging writers, bringing readings and other literary events to the public, and providing support for working writers to concentrate on their projects in process. Erín Moure will be the first writer to hold the Jake MacDonald residency, in 2021.
Jake MacDonald wrote short stories, tall tales, novels, essays, newspaper and magazine articles, and books of non-fiction, and he was beginning to make his mark as a playwright as well. His best-known work is his memoir Houseboat Chronicles: Notes from a Life in Shield Country, which recounts adventures from his life, especially his years spent living on a houseboat on the Winnipeg River near Minaki. That book won the prestigious national Rogers Non-Fiction Award and the Manitoba Book of the Year Award, and became a best-seller. Another popular Jake MacDonald book, Juliana and the Medicine Fish, is very different in genre, being a novel for young people, but it shares the same respect for nature and love of Canadian Shield country. Juliana and the Medicine Fish is a master work of story-telling, and was made into a very fine film. Jake’s debut play, The Cottage, premiered on the main stage of the Manitoba Theatre Centre in the spring of 2019 and shortly thereafter Jake was honoured with the Winnipeg Arts Council’s Making a Mark award. The new residency at the University of Winnipeg is made possible by the Jake MacDonald Writers Fund, which began with a generous founding gift from Jake’s friend Angus Reid. For more information, see https://news.uwinnipeg.ca/uwinnipeg-announces-the-jake-macdonald-writers-fund/
Jake MacDonald (Photo courtesy of the family)
Past Jake MacDonald Writers-in-Residence:
2023 Omar al Akkad
2022 Liz Howard
2021 Erìn Moure