While Marty Chan prepares two manuscripts and juggles countless school visits, he’ll also be offering words of wisdom to budding authors young and old. Starting in January, he will become the 2016 regional writer in residence.
“I know that January and February I’m trying to figure out how I’m going to squeeze sleep into all this equation,” he joked.
The regional writer in residence is a program of the Metro Federation of libraries that includes the Fort Saskatchewan Public Library, the Strathcona County Library, and the St. Albert Public Library. It’s a kind of outreach program that acts as a fine counterpart to the Edmonton Public Library writer in residence. Next year, that position will be filled by mystery writer Wayne Arthurson.
Outreach is nothing new to Chan. He can frequently be found in the classrooms of schools across the region and talking to students about the fun and creativity of writing. This is all part of the package of what it takes for him to be good at what he does, he says.
“I write for kids so obviously it would make sense for me to go into schools and talk about books and try to get the kids into the library and hopefully create some kind of writing workshop for kids so that the next generation of writers gets a chance to try something out.”
He’s been in the writing game for more than 25 years, starting in theatre and CBC Radio plus some television work before shifting to being a children’s writer.
It was when he was looking to break into television writing in the mid ’90s that he decided to take some drastic measures. He approached the producers of Jake and the Kid to see if they needed any new writing talent. Instead, they convinced him to audition and he won a part on the show. Landing the gig didn’t stop him from trying to wheedle his way behind the scenes. His part slowly got cut more and more as a result but he kept hanging around the story department, talking to the writers and editors, and learning the craft.
“It paid off because, at the end of the season, I got fired as an actor and hired as a story intern. It’s what I wanted and I was willing to do anything to try to get it.”
This is one of the reasons, he added, that he is so eager in anticipation of this residency. He calls it a recharge.
“When I get to talk to writers of different levels of experience, I can see the excitement, the optimism, the sheer terror that they have about how to break into the business of writing … it recharges me. It reminds me of what it was like when I was starting out. I’m always big on that underdog feeling of you’re just at the beginning and you gotta climb that mountain. How do you do it?”
“For me, it’s a bit of a charge because it reminds me of all the mistakes, and all the crazy ideas that I had when I was starting out. I did some really strange things at the beginning of my career.”
Chan will take on Strathcona County to start then Fort Saskatchewan before landing in St. Albert for the last term. He will have events at each of the libraries throughout the year. “I don’t want to feel like I’m stuck at just one venue so that people who want to see me don’t have to wait until the fall,” he said.
He’ll be in town on March 11 to interview Terry Fallis and will be one of the panelists during a CanadaReads event on March 18. One of his big introductory events is a Meet and Greet Kick Off on Jan. 16 in Strathcona County Library.
“It’s a book and business card swap. Writers are introverted and shy so I needed a reason for them to start talking to each other. You love books so you come in and bring your favourite book and pass it on to somebody else, swap it and start talking about why you love it. Next thing you know you’re talking to another writer. I thought that would be a great way to break the ice for everyone who’s coming in.”
Representatives from the Writers’ Guild of Alberta and the Canadian Authors’ Association will also be in attendance for questions and conversations. He’ll also announce more of the programming that he will have prepared for his residency.
He intends to repeat the event when he sets up in St. Albert in the fall.
For more on the Metro Writer in Residence program, visit www.metrowir.com.
