WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ...?
What’s Your Favourite ...?
Writer and CAA member Lisa Alward on an epic book club meeting and her favourite Fredericton hangout.
By Nicole Keen
FREDERICTON-BASED WRITER Lisa Alward is living proof that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams. Although she wanted to be a writer “from the age of nine or ten,” Alward didn’t start writing her award-winning collection of short stories, Cocktail, until she was 50. Now, on the heels of her first literary success, Alward is working on her first short novel, a kidnapping tale loosely inspired by family lore.
The Saint John River is Eastern Canada’s longest river, stretching from Québec’s Notre Dame mountains to the northwest shore of the Bay of Fundy. | PHOTOS: COURTESY OF LISA ALWARD; MICHAEL STEMM/TOURISM NEW BRUNSWICK
Who are some of your favourite writers?
Mavis Gallant, Margaret Atwood, Elena Ferrante. A British writer named Tessa Hadley that I’m very fond of, who I only discovered once I started writing short stories. If I wanted to go further back, writers like Edith Wharton, the Brontës and Jane Austen have inspired me my whole life.
Where do you usually like to write?
I’m a café girl, but I can also write anywhere. At the moment, I’ve been going to Picaroons Roundhouse. It’s a big space, the tables are separated from each other, and they serve good coffee.
Do you have a go-to cocktail order?
It’s not a Tom Collins [the name of one of the characters in Cocktail]. My favourite these days is a Negroni.
“I’m a café girl, but I can also write anywhere.”
Picaroons Roundhouse has a café, casual-eats restaurant, taproom and “brewtique” onsite; a classic Negroni contains equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. | PHOTOS: HELENO/ADOBE STOCK; COURTESY OF PICAROONS ROUNDHOUSE
What do you love most about the short story format?
I’ve often thought of this quote from the South African writer Nadine Gordimer. She once wrote in an essay that short story writers see by the light of a firefly’s flash. And I just love this image because it suggests both the sense of urgency in a short story and its fleetingness. When you’re reading a novel, you get to know the main characters well. It’s like you’re living in their house. But in a short story, you’re more like a burglar or a sleepwalker. You’re stumbling in and have this tiny amount of time to explore it.
You sometimes attend book clubs for your own books. Do you have a favourite experience?
I was invited to go to a book club that has been going for 25 years, and it was hosted that month at a beautiful century-old farmhouse on the Saint John River. We sat out on this incredible wraparound porch, they served wine, they gave me flowers. It was idyllic. They had interesting stories of their own, and we had a great conversation. I remember thinking afterwards, ‘If this is what being a writer is, I’m so happy.’ CAA
FREDERICTON-BASED WRITER Lisa Alward is living proof that it’s never too late to pursue your dreams. Although she wanted to be a writer “from the age of nine or ten,” Alward didn’t start writing her award-winning collection of short stories, Cocktail, until she was 50. Now, on the heels of her first literary success, Alward is working on her first short novel, a kidnapping tale loosely inspired by family lore.
A classic Negroni contains equal parts gin, Campari and sweet vermouth. | PHOTO: HELENO/ADOBE STOCK
“I’m a café girl, but I can also write anywhere.”