Marion Agnew

As always (by which I mean for the past few months), I'm tracking five things I want to remember from each month. And if you get to the bottom, you'll find links to places I've been interviewed or appeared, and/or where my work was discussed, along with books I've posted about on Instagram! OBVIOUSLY not a recent photo, but I do believe the lake ice will melt.  Someday... ONE. An update on putting time limits on social media, which I know I've written about somewhere. I’ve noticed as I pick up my phone to scroll, which I still do, I ask myself why. Or sometimes I mutter, “now I’m just irritating myself,” and THEN I ask myself why. And often I put down the phone, which was my goal. Yes, I’m finding time and inclination to do more things, but doing isn’t the point. Limiting social media isn’t a productivity hack—it’s an attempt to improve my mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual health. And it’s helping, I think. TWO. Addendum to the above: having something to ...

I so enjoy talking with readers and other folks about Making Up the Gods. Each person has a lens through which they read anything, and combining that with their life experiences and the moment through which they're living can be really powerful. Thinking about it, I've often said, "This is the right book for me at the right time." And, of course, a different view--"This isn't the right time for this book for me" or "Hmm, I don't seem to personally *like* this type of book." In any case, I've recently been fortunate to have several public discussions about my book and its themes: grief and loss, home and place, choices and communication. They're collected on the Making Up the Gods page, linked above, as well as in individual posts. Here are the latest two: Podcast: Let's Talk About Grief with Anne, on how grief can be a powerful motivator to make changes.  YouTube: Shawn Breathes Books , in which Shawn Mooney and I have a great ...

One of the best parts of participating in the world of publishing is that you can talk with readers and writers about reading and writing.  I guess that's always available, but since publishing MAKING UP THE GODS, I've had many opportunities to talk with people, both formally and informally. The interviews are always fun and always different. Recently, I spoke with Jonathan Pinto at CBC Sudbury on their afternoon show, Up North. (You can find it here .) It's been several months since my book was released and I'm grateful people are still interested in it--and it's so nice to be able to express my gratitude and my belief in the importance of stories to represent the world around us. Also, many interviewers ask "what's next?" and to make sure I'm not lying when I say "I'm working on another novel," I've been working on another novel. I do ENJOY writing, when I DO it instead of circling it or despairing the value of the writing I hav...

As a dual citizen of the US and Canada, with a Canadian mother and an American father, I've crossed that border often.* I've had decades to think about borders. (I even blogged about them for a while.) And boundaries--both the geographical kind and the personal kind. Artsy vacation shot :) . I recently made a cross-border trip, my first extended visit since pandemic lockdowns, and wondered again about the people in an office somewhere drawing lines on a map. I also thought about the ways I expected my life to unfold, and how different my experience has been. Performing onstage has never appealed to me--I managed it as a musician because of all the others up there with me. Safety in numbers and all that. So as I turned from professional and technical writing to creative work, the thought of reading my own work aloud in front of others, and trying to say something coherent in interviews, was daunting. Imagine my surprise to learn that I enjoy talking about my work, both my essay ...

Here are some further adventures in the fun opportunities to talk about a book! Recently, the kind folks at River Street Writing hosted me for the Power Q&A series, featured on their blog.   In the autumn, my book was featured at the local bookstore. A dream come true.  It was so great to have the chance to reflect on the fact that MAKING UP THE GODS is a story infused with grief. I actually thought I was writing about how adults make decisions, but, as Semisonic says, "Every new beginning comes from some other beginning's end." So yes, grief!  I was also fortunate to be part of the "Story Share" series on the Jacqui Just Chatters podcast! She did a cross-promotion with the Bookish Flights podcast , and a total of four people shared their stories about books that have impacted our lives.  I could probably keep the podcast in stories for years, but one book has been on my mind quite a bit as I've shared MAKING UP THE GODS with the world--MRS. MINIVER, by...

Last week I wrote about some of the Mattie Rigsbees I have known, and how Me and White Supremacy , by Layla F. Saad, has helped give me tools to see them with clearer eyes. You can read that here.   This is a Manitoba Maple I saw while walking and listening to an episode of It Was Said. I goofed around with editing tools on my iPhone. I have so much to learn about anti-racism. Besides reading, I'm listening.   Here are some podcasts I recommend, if you're interested in learning but feel as if you can't read all the things. Links are to web pages or Apple Podcasts. Note that although much of the content focuses on the US, Canada shares a great deal of its history and attitudes. 1619, by The New York Times . Also, this article in Politico about fact-checking the podcast is interesting. Here's a quote from the article:  Overall, the 1619 Project is a much-needed corrective to the blindly celebratory histories that once dominated our understanding of the past—histories t...

It's summer, so everything and nothing is different. The main thing that's different is what "thing" in the previous sentence refers to. I'm juggling different things than I was a while back. New things like roofs and paint and sanders, and do we need a battery charger. That said, some of the context from the past four months is the same: if we do need said battery charger (or paint/stain, or sandpaper), how physically do we get it when we're not going into stores. Also: is it time for another grocery pickup. That said, many lovely people are saying nice things about my book, Reverberations: A Daughter's Meditations on Alzheimer's . And they all seem to have been talking about it in the past two or three weeks.   A few weeks back, I participated in a panel discussion, hosted by my publisher, Signature Editions.   Last week, my book was featured (along with a blog post) at AlzAuthors.com. This week, an extended interview with Suzannah Windsor appears at...

After a hectic month, the pace of my life has slowed. Each day still has a to-do list, and I love to cross things off. I haven't had a personality transplant or anything. BUT. I'm aware that I have a little breathing room. I have time to click through on Twitter or Instagram and read what's linked. And so I have. I've also read many of the articles I'd bookmarked during the busy season. Most recently, I read an extraordinary piece by Josie George, a UK writer . Her site holds many brief, pithy pieces and I've enjoyed every one. Bonus: she uploads audio files so you can hear her reading them, too. I first read this piece, Forest . It begins with a lovely, closely observed experience of nature, both in the past when she still walked and in the present from her wheelchair. Wonderfully pleasant and evocative. And then this: "Nature is being repackaged. To encourage us to love it better, to save it, we are told more and more that it will make us feel g...

As we near the Saturday launch for Reverberations: A Daughter's Meditations on Alzheimer's , I have the opportunity to talk about the book, my mother, our family, and writing. It's been a lot of fun to chat with interested people. Here's some official links: On CBC Radio's Thunder Bay morning snow, Superior Morning, with Lisa Laco. The November issue of Thunder Bay's arts and culture magazine, The Walleye.  The "Five Questions" is the interview with me, done by Susan Goldberg, an awesome writer and interviewer. And just yesterday, an interview with Heather Dickson in Bayview Magazine.  Lots of neat photos accompany this one. I keep saying how grateful I am, and it's true. For my parents, my siblings and their children and grandchildren, and our extended family of cousins. For my husband and his children and partners and grandchildren. For the support from teachers, librarians and library programs, health-related programs, and arts progr...

Social media is...interesting. I appreciate its ability to connect people and try to manage its ability to exacerbate disagreements. My (current) favourite is Instagram, where my presence is newest. I have curated what I see there carefully, so that my feed is mostly images from arts and artists, with a smattering of books, bags, and boots (none of which I am currently buying) (except within certain rules). So, poetry. One of my favourite accounts is Today Calls, a product of artist Christof Migone. The visual is black (itself an interesting addition to what I see, given that most of my feed is so colourful), with a recording of three voices. The text each voice reads is below that day's entry. The commentary within and among prompts is interesting. All the voices are interesting. The events that they use as prompts are interesting. It's a really fun way to experience poetry, especially in the form of a daily moment. I haven't seen anything like it on Instagram or e...

Happy 2019, everyone! I hope so, at any rate. I'm partly "back to work" today, but I'm partly still on holiday, and it occurs to me that folks other than myself might be struggling to set a direction (or goals, or intentions) for the coming year. As "everyone" who's anyone in the Goal-Setting Guru space says, the first step is to look back. So here's a gigantic THANK YOU to publications, and their teams, who shared my work with the world in 2018. "Hours of Daylight," third place in creative nonfiction,  Prairie Fire  2017 contest,  Prairie Fire 39.2 (Summer 2018) "Entanglement,"  Atticus Review, 21 June 2018. Previously shortlisted for  EVENT 's Non-Fiction Contest, 2017.  "Let  d  Be the Distance Between Us,"  The Grief Diaries, Issue 4 Volume 1, The Anniversary Issue, June, 2018.   "Atomic Tangerine," Honourable Mention in  The New Quarterly 's Edna Staebler Personal Essay award, Summer...

The days are getting longer, but the ice remains on the roads, and therefore, my walks remain on the treadmill. Which means I listen to podcasts. I was especially excited to see notice of the return of this podcast: Missing & Murdered . This season focuses on learning the story of Cleo, a young girl from the generation of the "Sixties Scoop." As I said here, I learned so much from the first season of this podcast --among other issues, how and why some people might zero incentive to cooperate with authorities. True-crime podcasts can feel squicky, in the way that reality TV shows can: exploiting tragic stories for sensationalism, fame, or ratings. I have wondered whether I'm "done" imbibing crime stories, whether those stories come in the form of books or podcasts or even longform journalism. I haven't decided. But even if I declare a personal moratorium on similar podcasts, I will continue listening to Missing & Murdered. First, it doesn'...

I've mentioned before that one of my favourite podcasts is Scriptnotes . It is, as the subtitle says, a podcast about screenwriting and things that are interesting to screenwriters. John August, a screenwriter and the originator of the podcast, is launching a new middle-grade book series soon, featuring a character named  Arlo Finch . He's also launching a podcast--limited-episode, apparently; the "mini-series" equivalent of podcasting--in advance of his book's launch. The new podcast is called Launch, and it's presented by Wondery . In it, he talks about his book and what he's learned in the past two years as he's entered a new realm of storytelling. He even got to see his book being printed, which is pretty cool. I've listened to several episodes, not all (yet). However, what I've heard so far is a great basic resource for answers to some of those questions. I recommend listening. And if you're interested in lots of "how to...

Over the weekend, I sampled the S-Town podcast while I was on the treadmill. Aaaaaand THERE went the rest of the weekend. Sure, I ate and drank and went outdoors and got the newspaper and did the Sunday crossword. But I also listened. Here's some background. A. It's produced by those who brought the Serial podcast to the world, which in turn was made by experienced folks from This American Life, and focuses on the life of a character in a small town in the southern U.S. B. It's in a significantly different format (aside from being a story told by voices on the radio): all seven episodes were released at once. It thus lacks the "simultaneous reporting" feature of the two seasons of Serial and other true-crime or investigative journalism podcasts, when attention to the initial story brings forward information that can shed light on or solve the initial mystery. The fact of A made me, frankly, a little leery. I liked Serial, but I've heard storytelle...

Welcome, March! Here are three thinkers/writers/speakers whose virtual paths have crossed mine recently. * Richard Conniff's strange behaviors blog, where he writes about animals and behavior and animal behavior. I've been reading and responding to this post in particular: Useless Creatures (and Why They Matter) . Not everything in the world has to demonstrate its value by doing something for human beings. * In the Sydney Review of Books , by James Bradley , this essay:  "Writing on the Precipice."  The idea with which I first engaged was his discussion of the power of story, one of my ongoing interests. He says, "There are moments though, when our stories fail us, moments when the world's complexities exceed their power." The rest of the essay also has much to ponder. He considers various ways people have recently written, both fiction and nonfiction, about science and nature. Reading and digesting it is taking time, in a good way. * This talk, ...

Sometimes, I need to turn away--turn my back on destructive people and events, in spite of the sick fascination they can offer. I think that fascination is what lures people into things like "hate-watching" something. You don't want to but you somehow can't stop? Yeah, that. But that feels horrible. It separates me from my work. It prevents me from doing what I can, however small my work and my efforts feel at times. So instead of turning away, I'm thinking about turning toward --looking for experiences and people that operate from respect. I'm focusing on people who can help me tinker and reconstruct, laugh and play, with respectful honesty. I welcome interaction with people who are curious enough to read and research. To listen (yes, I'm a broken record about that). To learn. That's where I'm putting my energy this week. Because I must.

It's a new year, and the recent US election seems like old news, except that it isn't--the ramifications grow bigger every day.  One recent "end of the year" highlight for Canada's news outlets was that the night of the election, searches in the US for "how to move to Canada" apparently spiked . (Note that the site linked isn't the official Government of Canada site, which has updated instructions and laws.)  So, Americans, here's something to know: Canadians love being the place where Americans move. Sorta. One thing don't love is that Americans assume it'll be easy.   I heard it expressed best this past summer by Jeff McArthur , a host on one of the morning news shows. I can't find the exact quote, but this is close: "Canada isn't like Disneyland. You can't just show up and pay an admission fee and expect to get in." Yeah. Maybe think a moment--what is it you have to offer Canada? Canadians are fluen...

It's been a year of loss. Lots of people whose work influenced our world for the better are gone. Musicians, actors, writers. Artists of all kinds. The loss of Carrie Fisher--actor, writer, advocate --hits me especially hard. Especially her, especially this year. So, Yoda says, "There is another."  Whatever or whoever he (or George Lucas) may mean by that--all that speculation feels, increasingly, beside the point. All of us can, must, should be "Another." Yes: speak/write, especially speaking up when power is abused. But also, find others who are speaking. Stand beside them, listening to and amplifying their work, letting them know they're not fighting alone. NOTE: I'm not listening backward (or, you know, backwards). I'm no longer interested hearing people speak hate or even ambivalence about people who don't look like they do. I refuse to seek out voices who glorify "business sense" at the expense of compassion and equity,...

I keep listening more these days. I may have some skills and know some things, but other people have different skills and know other things. Hearing their experiences is interesting. And people are always more likely to share if they have an audience. So I'm listening. I know I've mentioned favorite podcasts before. I'm still enjoying NPR's Code Switch , maybe more than ever since the election. And north of the border, here's a series I can't recommend highly enough: CBC's Missing and Murdered: Who Killed Alberta Williams?  By Connie Walker and Marni Luke, this podcast looks into the disappearance and murder of a young woman decades ago. Nuanced and layered, it tells a heart-wrenching story of one person, but it also gives the context for so much of the pain that lingers in Canadian culture around missing and murdered indigenous women. The residual fear and hurt of Alberta's relatives is palpable, but never exploited. Connie confesses and considers h...