U of Alberta writers-in-residence interviews: Tim Bowling (2010-11)

For the sake of the fortieth anniversary of the writer-in-residence program (the longest lasting of its kind in Canada) at the University of Alberta, I have taken it upon myself to interview as many former University of Alberta writers-in-residence as possible [see the ongoing list of writers here]. Seethe link to the entire series of interviews (updating weekly) here.

Tim Bowling’s 13^th collection of poems, The Duende of Tetherball, will appear in the fall of 2016, and his 5^th novel, The Heavy Bear, will appear in the spring of 2017.

He was writer-in-residence at the University of Alberta during the 2010-11 academic year.

Q: When you began your residency, you’d been publishing books for about fifteen years. Where did you feel you were in your writing? What did the opportunity mean to you?

A: Time. Time to think, to write, to feel validated as a working author (and a big part of the validation, of course, was the cold, hard cash). At the time, I had a number of projects on the go, was highly motivated creatively, but also highly stressed financially. So the opportunity was an absolute godsend.

Q: Were you solely working to further and complete various projects, or did you see your time as more of an opportunity to expand your repertoire?

A: Both, really. I’m usually finishing projects while others are incubating. That’s been my process from the start, but it’s intensified over the past decade. During the U of A residency, I was completing a book of poems and writing the draft of a novel (mostly, though, I was working with other writers on their work – that’s usually what a WIR does, as you know).

Q: How did you engage with students and the community during your residency?

A: Invitations to classrooms (including at a high school), but mostly writers with manuscripts contacted me by e-mail to arrange a meeting in my office.

Q: Was this your first residency?

A: My third, but my first of such length.

Q: How does your experience there compare to other residencies you’ve done?

Q: What do you see as your biggest accomplishment while there? What had you been hoping to achieve?

A: A great deal more money. Otherwise similar.

Q: Looking back on the experience now, how do you think it impacted on your work?

A: It bought me time to write without the usual level of financial anxiety.

Q: The bulk of writers-in-residence at the University of Alberta have been writers from outside the province. As an Edmonton-based writer, how did it feel to be acknowledged locally through the position?

A: Yeah, that was a fantastic part of it. But, to be really clear, Edmonton has been incredibly welcoming and supportive of me as a writer right from the beginning. And the U of A is a big part of that. I owe this city and its institutions a great deal.