Get to know... Ibi Kaslik!

Over the course of the winter 2011 edition of S.W.A.T., we're posting brief interviews with each of our Writers-in-Residence. We want to give all of you a chance to get to know the amazing people who work so hard to make the S.W.A.T. program a success! (You can also check out a list of interviews from last year's writers here.)

Today we present the fourth of our writer interviews - with Ibi Kaslik.

Ibi Kaslik is an internationally published novelist, freelance writer and teacher. Her most recent novel, The Angel Riots, is a rock n’ roll comic-tragedy and was nominated for Ontario’s Trillium award in 2009. Her first novel, Skinny, was a New York Times Bestseller and has been published in numerous countries. A native of Toronto, Ibi teaches creative writing at The University of Toronto’s School of Continuing Studies and works as an art educator for youth. This is Ibi's first year as a S.W.A.T. Writer-in-Residence. She has been working at St. Joseph's College.

You can also see Ibi in person at our second HEAR/HEAR Reading of 2011 — on Wednesday, June 15. Our Q & A with Ibi Kaslik… after the jump!

NOW HEAR THIS!: What inspired you to become a writer?

Ibi Kaslik: I came from a very literary/intellectual family: we were always reading and talking about ideas and books; my parents held salons in our house for Hungarian poets and writers ever since I could remember. Becoming a writer was a very natural thing for me as my father is a writer and my mother a great “idea person.”

NHT!: What was your favourite book when you were 15?

IB: I wish I could say I was reading the important Hermans: Herman Hesse and Herman Melville and maybe I was, but I was not yet grasping great, canonic literature. I really liked a mix of stuff: anything from J.D. Salinger to V.C. Andrews but I was especially into weird 1970s teen writers like Paul Zindel and this writer called Barbara Wersba who wrote many great books. My favourite was called Tunes for a Small Harmonica. It was a novel about a girl who had short hair, dressed like a boy and was in love with her high school English teacher. She wore a leather jacket with Tappan Zee Bridge printed on the back: I loved that detail. As a tomboy, I could really identify with Wersba’s lead characters who were all outsiders, in a sense. I must have written that book 100 times at least.
 

NHT!: What recently published book do you wish you could have read when you were 15?

IB: Quiver, by Holly Luhning

NHT!: What book(s) are you reading right now?

IB: The Shadow Woman by Ake Edwardson, Lake Effect by Rich Cohen and Aspects of the Novel by E.M. Forster
 

NHT!: What are you writing right now?

IB: Lesson plans; emails and a third novel: please don’t ask how it’s going.
 

NHT!: Where is your favourite place to write?

IB: In bed, on the couch or outdoors I find there’s too much pressure with a desk.
 

NHT!: Do you do a lot of research when you’re writing fiction or poetry?

IB: Yes and no, research is a good starting point for writers in terms of a situation, character or story ideas but information, as Jonathan Franzen put it, can be vulgar. Poetry and fiction is more interested in motivation, humanity and character, not facts. I find when an author tries too hard to show off all his/her research it becomes artificial and feels too imported. The writer, like the actor, needs to tap into the emotional reality of a landscape, character or situation rather than becoming overly concerned with the veracity of facts. We are in the age of information: we have internet for that.
 

NHT!: Do you write with an audience in mind or just for yourself?

IB: Both. I like to read about situations that are unique and characters that are troubled and that I am interested in: as a writer you want to entertain and engage so you must find a way to do both. With my most recent book, The Angel Riots I thought people might want to know about the dynamics of being in a band. With Skinny, my first novel, I thought people would want to read about an intimate and honest experience of anorexia. I try to balance showing the reality and emotional complexity of certain situations and relationships with a poetic writing style. I also think story is very important, and drama, along with gripping characters that compel the reader to keep thinking about these people even off the page. I also try to set certain challenges for myself when I write. For example, I enjoy making unlikable characters sympathetic and giving a voice to the voiceless.
 

NHT!: What was the first thing you published and (if you don’t mind us asking) how old were you?

IB: I won a short story competition sponsored by the Etobicoke Public Library system in grade seven or eight and won fifty bucks and they printed it in the Etobicoke Guardian newspaper. But I stole the idea for the story from my brother who was (and still remains) a great “idea person.” So, does that count? I think he owed me fifty bucks and they spelled my name wrong so it all worked out. Zol, I hope you don’t read this!
 

NHT!: What’s the best advice you received as a young writer?

IB: Life is short but art is long. Or, art is short and life is long? I can never remember the order and that’s part of the reason I like it: you get to mull it over and twist it to whatever meaning you require, it’s all about point of view. “Don’t read reviews,” is a good one too, although I find it difficult to follow.
 

NHT!: What advice do you have for young writers who are trying to get published?

IB: Read, write, go to school, take a few writing classes, travel, live, get a job. Find someone who loves you and tolerates your writing habit. Don’t depend on writing to make money.

Thanks, Ibi!