A series of questions
By Dane Swan
Today, instead of waking up with answers, or advice for members of the literary community, I awoke with a series of questions. I've wrestled throughout the day, wondering if a set of questions were worthy of posting and have decided to share them with you. Hopefully, these questions spur debate.
1/ If Last Exit to Brooklyn was a manuscript by a first-time author, would any Canadian publishers accept it?
2/ What about, A Brief History of Seven Killings, or Trainspotting?
3/ If any of the above did find a Canadian publisher, as an author's first work, what size press would pick it up?
4/ Are Canadian presses censoring authors to protect funding? Are presses too safe in their choices?
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5/ Can a press claim to be multi-cultural, or diverse if they only promote their books from diverse authors through traditional literary media?
6/ Is there an actual Canadian Literature cannon? If so, where do it's authors of color fit?
7/ How can an author strive for greatness when conforming is awarded?
8/ Who was the last author that made you think, “I'm not good enough.”
9/ Shouldn't more Canadian presses have a better grasp of social media by now?
10/ Where are the apps for literary presses?
11/ Why do you write? Is it for the same reasons that you had when you started? If not, why have you wavered?
12/ Why did you stop writing?
The views expressed in the Writer-in-Residence blogs are those held by the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Open Book.
Dane Swan is a Bermuda-raised, Toronto-based internationally published poet, writer and musician. His first collection, Bending the Continuum was launched by Guernica Editions in the Spring of 2011. The collection was a recommended mid-summer read by Open Book: Toronto. In 2013 Dane was short listed for the Monica Ladell Award (Scarborough Arts) for his poem "Stopwatch."
