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Finding the Words: Writers on Inspiration, Desire, War, Celebrity, Exile, and Breaking the Rules
Celebrated writers reveal surprising truths about the joys, challenges, and importance of finding the words, in this special fundraising anthology for PEN Canada.
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In Finding the Words , thirty-one well-known writers share deeply personal discoveries and stories that will surprise, delight, and stir the mind and heart. By turns inspiring, provocative, witty, and compelling, these diverse and original pieces explore home, exile, and the search for a place to belong; community, creativity, celebrity, and the many forms power can take.Ìý
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Among the pieces in the Diana Athill and Alice Munro discuss the consequences of writing about other people; Gord Downie meditates on what it means to be a songwriter by considering one of his own songwriting heroes; Guy Gavriel Kay reflects on how his relationship with his own readers continues to change; Elizabeth Hay searches for inspiration in the fallow period between books; Rawi Hage meditates on writing rooted in the universal experience of exile; Pasha Malla and Moez Surani present a funny and confounding list of “rules for writers� solicited from non-writers; Heather O’Neill tells the story of an illiterate and underage wannabe gangster in mid-century Montreal; Michael Winter pieces together court transcripts, newspaper accounts, and other primary sources to take us into the dark heart of a real-life Newfoundland crime story.
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Proceeds from this volume will go to PEN Canada in support of its vital work in defence of freedom of expression and on behalf of writers around the world who have been silenced.
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Finding the Words Contributors
Diana Athill
Tash Aw
David Bezmozgis
Joseph Boyden
David Chariandy
Denise Chong
Karen Connelly
Alain de Botton
Emma Donoghue
Gord Downie
Marina Endicott
Stacey May Fowles
Rawi Hage
Elizabeth Hay
Steven Heighton
Lee Henderson
Guy Gavriel Kay
Mark Kingwell
Martha Kuwee Kumsa
Annabel Lyon
Linden MacIntyre
Pasha Malla
Lisa Moore
Alice Munro
Stephanie Nolen
Heather O’Neill
Richard Poplak
Moez Surani
Miguel Syjuco
Madeleine Thien
Michael Winter
With cover design and illustration by Seth
www.pencanada.ca
Ìý
In Finding the Words , thirty-one well-known writers share deeply personal discoveries and stories that will surprise, delight, and stir the mind and heart. By turns inspiring, provocative, witty, and compelling, these diverse and original pieces explore home, exile, and the search for a place to belong; community, creativity, celebrity, and the many forms power can take.Ìý
Ìý
Among the pieces in the Diana Athill and Alice Munro discuss the consequences of writing about other people; Gord Downie meditates on what it means to be a songwriter by considering one of his own songwriting heroes; Guy Gavriel Kay reflects on how his relationship with his own readers continues to change; Elizabeth Hay searches for inspiration in the fallow period between books; Rawi Hage meditates on writing rooted in the universal experience of exile; Pasha Malla and Moez Surani present a funny and confounding list of “rules for writers� solicited from non-writers; Heather O’Neill tells the story of an illiterate and underage wannabe gangster in mid-century Montreal; Michael Winter pieces together court transcripts, newspaper accounts, and other primary sources to take us into the dark heart of a real-life Newfoundland crime story.
Ìý
Proceeds from this volume will go to PEN Canada in support of its vital work in defence of freedom of expression and on behalf of writers around the world who have been silenced.
Ìý
Finding the Words Contributors
Diana Athill
Tash Aw
David Bezmozgis
Joseph Boyden
David Chariandy
Denise Chong
Karen Connelly
Alain de Botton
Emma Donoghue
Gord Downie
Marina Endicott
Stacey May Fowles
Rawi Hage
Elizabeth Hay
Steven Heighton
Lee Henderson
Guy Gavriel Kay
Mark Kingwell
Martha Kuwee Kumsa
Annabel Lyon
Linden MacIntyre
Pasha Malla
Lisa Moore
Alice Munro
Stephanie Nolen
Heather O’Neill
Richard Poplak
Moez Surani
Miguel Syjuco
Madeleine Thien
Michael Winter
With cover design and illustration by Seth
www.pencanada.ca
328 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
3 people are currently reading
240 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 8, 2011
This book is a collection of essays that were written as a fundraiser for PEN CANADA. There are some great pieces in here- Steven Heighton's on how writers are overwhelmed by technology comes to mind. I also loved Stacey May Fowles' essay on her anxiety over publishing her first book, Gord Downie's piece on an interview/performance he did with Gordon Lightfoot and Marina Endicott's piece on the RCMP and Mayerthorpe.
That said, there were some essays that I skipped or didn't finish, which is to be expected with such a diverse book.
This book is definitely worth picking up, if you like well-written essays and want to think about a diverse number of subjects.
That said, there were some essays that I skipped or didn't finish, which is to be expected with such a diverse book.
This book is definitely worth picking up, if you like well-written essays and want to think about a diverse number of subjects.
August 27, 2013
Borrowed this from a Canadian friend and realized I didn't know anything about the country's literary scene. Now I want to know more. This is a great collection of essays on writing by some great Canadian writers. Definitely worth reading. The essay I think back to Emma Donaghue's Finding Jack's Voice: Some Thoughts on Children and Language frequently. If you are looking to unfold ideas about writing, there's no better place to start then the very beginning of our awareness. Genius.
March 8, 2011
I am amazed with the depth and diversity of the authors who were chosen to contribute to this anthology of work to support PEN Canada. Wondrous, interesting, laugh out loud funny, important are a few of the words to explain this compilation.
Make sure you pick up a copy, as the proceeds go to PEN Canada and their efforts for authors around the world in jail, or being quieted with their works.
Make sure you pick up a copy, as the proceeds go to PEN Canada and their efforts for authors around the world in jail, or being quieted with their works.
March 3, 2011
I enjoyed this anthology of personal writings by new and established authors who support PEN Canada - particularly the conversation about the dangers of writing between Diana Athill and Alice Munro, Heather O'Neill's speculative piece on her father's childhood, and Marina Endicott's musings on the slow simmering mania of small town life (after my stint in small town Nova Scotia for a teaching gig, I couldn definitely relate!) My full review can be read at
August 3, 2013
A wide variety of interesting perspectives.
October 15, 2022
This was a good, sometimes great, collection of essays from a range of Canadians authors. Hard to review fundraiser anthologies since the cause is always going to trump the quality (in this case, PEN Canada).
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September 18, 2020Love this book about writing, I keep it handy and reference it
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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