The local writing community has been waiting patiently for Michael Hingston to show up for work. The former Edmonton Journal books editor, author of two books, and publisher was announced as the regional writer in residence late last year, but he’s been spending all of 2018 so far in other libraries. He started in Sherwood Park and concluded his last stint in Fort Saskatchewan more than a month ago. He will be setting up shop in St. Albert starting on Mon., Aug. 20.
“It’s been a nice break, but I’m ready to get back to it in August. It should be fun. The writing community in St. Albert is well known to be passionate and large and varied. I’m excited to jump in,” he says. “It’s all I’ve heard from other writers in residence: ‘Take your summer off.’ The people in St. Albert … they know the position’s there, they’ve got projects on the go and they’re excited to meet up.”
With his breadth of experience, the range of topics that he could comment on is extensive, from freelancing, beating writer’s block, and getting through a first draft to pitches, query letters and other facets of the writing business. He could probably help you write your grocery list or a birthday card, too, if you asked nicely enough.
The writer in residence program has several goals, not the least of which is engaging the broader community and offering encouragement and critical support to both established and emerging writers through one-on-one consultations, community outreach efforts and group workshops and seminars. It also serves Hingston by giving him the space, time and resources for him to work on his own writing projects. He will devote half of his time to people and the other half of his time to his personal writing projects.
At the same time that he will be offering advice, he will be hard at work on a new non-fiction writing project, as well as putting the finishing touches on the new Short Story Advent Calendar through his publishing company, Hingston and Olsen. In turn, some of the writers that he has just been working with are reportedly now submitting their novels, with a few others near that stage. He said that he would love nothing more than to hear that somebody he had helped has gotten published.
Regardless of those outcomes, he relishes the opportunity to bring people out of their writing nooks at home.
“I’ve always been amazed and surprised at how vibrant the writing communities are, sometimes in ways that I’m not sure that the individual members are aware of. One of the things I like about this position is it gives a public meeting space for people. We write by ourselves in our houses in the dark at night. It’s nice to have a place to emerge to meet up, to talk things over with other writers. I’ve been very surprised and impressed by how many writers are working on really interesting projects, sometimes in relative isolation. It’s nice to be able to connect them to resources and give them a sympathetic ear and a fresh set of eyes on their work.”
He already has a slate of events lined up through December, the first of which will come before the end of the month. Hingston will be hosting an all ages drop-in meet and greet so that people can be more familiar with him and what he can do to help them with their writing. That takes place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Wed., Aug. 29, at the library. Other events can be found at www.metrowir.com/michael-hingston-sapl-programs-aug-dec-2018 and pre-registrations are already open.
He will be involved in promoting his new book Let’s Go Exploring, his Pop Classics examination of Calvin and Hobbes, at literary festivals in Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver as well. Here, he will also be hosting author Cait Flanders as she talks about her novel The Year of Less during STARFest on Oct. 24.
His office hours will be Mondays 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and Wednesdays 2 to 8 p.m. He says that drop-ins are fine but scheduled appointments are much better. To connect with Hingston, email him at [email protected]. Before he arrives at his St. Albert desk, people can still derive some of the benefits of his wisdom by reading his blog. It has some tips and recaps from past programs such as the Ledes and Kickers Reading List to help improve the beginnings and endings of both fiction and non-fiction works.
In the meantime, the call for applications for both the 2019 regional writer in residence and the Edmonton Public Library writer in residence positions has been posted. The application deadline is Monday, Sept. 17.
Those who are interested in making contact with Darrin Hagen, the current EPL writer in residence, can find out more at www.metrowir.com. He will return to his post the week of Sept. 3.
