By Kit Dobson and Smaro Kamboureli, (Wilfrid Laurier UP 2013).
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Cultural policies, along with pressures coming from global economies, have had an enormous impact on the production, dissemination, reception, teaching and study of Canadian literature. Most scholars and teachers tend to focus on what a novel or a poet is about, thus overlooking the material conditions (e.g., granting agencies and legislation pertaining to cultural production, editorial interference, the market-driven interests of literary agents, publishers’ interests in foreign rights, high-profile literary awards, and media attention) that impact directly on the kinds of books literary authors write.
Our project is designed to accomplish two goals: first, to offer a selected number of authors the opportunity to speak about the kinds of influence these material conditions have had on their writing, on the one hand, and on the literary careers, on the other; and, second, to produce “raw” material that we will study, collaboratively as well as individually, and which, through publication will also serve as an important research source for other Canadian literature researchers.
Authors interviewed for the project:
- Roy Miki
- Christian Bök
- Warren Cariou
- George Elliott Clarke
- Karen Connelly
- Hiromi Goto
- Stephen Henighan
- Daniel Heath Justice
- Larissa Lai
- Lee Maracle
- Ashok Mathur
- Roy Miki
- Erin Moure
- Jane Urquhart
- Aritha Van Herk