Marion Agnew

So much good news in 2015! I recently learned that one of my essays, "Big Ideas, Small Feet," placed third in the creative nonfiction category of Prairie Fire 's annual writing contest ! Many thanks to judge Wayne Grady and the hard-working people at Prairie Fire , who put out a great publication. I'm particularly excited because this essay came from a year (the first of many I foresee) of reading and writing about the natural world and our--humans'--relationship to it, for which I received a grant from the Ontario Arts Council. It was really fun to encounter many of the fabulous ideas at work in the world and engage with them at the level of the lives we live every day. One of my favo(u)rite books of the past year, which I consider in the essay, was Braiding Sweetgrass , by scientist and poet Robin Wall Kimmerer. I like science, and scientists, a lot. Their passion for what they do is infectious, and Kimmerer combines her scientist-self with a mother-self a...

As I have mentioned, this coming Tuesday, I'll be reading as part of the launch of a really cool program, the electronic-writer in residence program of NOWW .  Besides reading from an essay that is appearing in Best Canadian Essays 2014 , I'll also read an excerpt from a short story. A little more than three years ago, the first electronic writer in residence gave me very useful feedback on it.  And I discovered recently that this story has won an award! It placed first in the annual Ten Stories High contest sponsored by the Canadian Authors Association-Niagara Branch. The current list of winners is here . It's exciting! As I said on Facebook, I feel as if one of my favorite people has finally found some friends. I look forward to seeing the final anthology.  Many thanks to the Canadian Authors Association-Niagara Branch for running its contest! I know how much work goes on behind the scenes to create opportunities for others. Speaking of hard work, NOWW--t...

I am *still* slightly bewildered about the last month or so of 2014 (and yes, still writing about it). However, both my husband and I greet 2015 with optimism, rebuilding health, and new-found energy. In fact, lots of fun stuff is on the horizon. February 2 marks the official Toronto launch of Best Canadian Essays 2014 .  Go if you can; it's a joint launch with Priscilla Uppal's much-anticipated short story collection and will feature readings by lots of great people. The unofficial Thunder Bay launch of BCE 2014 will occur the following evening, February 3, because I happen to be reading in Thunder Bay (Brodie Library, 7 p.m.) that evening and why not. I'm reading as part of the kickoff event for the Northwestern Ontario Writers Workshop's electronic- Writer in Residence program. Supported by the Ontario Arts Council's Northern Arts program, the event gives writers in the region a chance to attend workshops (in person or via livestreaming) with award-winn...

Four years ago, I wrote (in a different space) about moments in which you know something has changed and your life will be different--like the moment a light comes on . Early this month, a similar moment, even closer to home, came along and my life has changed again. Three-and-a-half weeks later, my husband is home from a heart-specialty hospital in southern Ontario, complete with a replumbed heart. He is doing well. I am still slightly bewildered. But yesterday I came home from the day's errands to find him tilted back in his desk chair in his office, playing FreeCell, as he would have been a month ago. This morning I read a draft of his final report to the granting agency that funded his novel last year. He is recuperating, finding his way back or perhaps forward--pick a metaphor. I am writing, too, of course. Because that's how I figure out bewildered, how I put bewildered into little containers labeled MTWThF with separate sets for AM and PM, how I serve bewildere...

The month is flying by. This was going to be the month AFTER the month that disappeared. However, this one is set to join October on the "months in 2014 that went by in a blur" list. On the up side, I've been churning through my to-do list and meeting deadlines. But sometimes, my brain is mush, and sometimes, I click through to Facebook, and sometimes, I take those quizzes. You know the ones: "what kind of old person will you be?" or "what animal is your spirit animal?" So far I have learned * In Narnia, I am most like Mr. Tumnus. (Time to investigate more aggressive hair removal.) * The word that best describes me is "cultured." (Like yogurt? So, more "curdled"?) * The first impression I create is "innovative."(This devotee of habit, this creature of routine?) * My spirit animal is the whale. (A good friend told me this when I was 27.) * The type of angel wings I have (Who knew there were different kinds???) is...

This past month has brought a lot of people-related events and a lot of work, much of it unexpected and all of it urgent. On days when I'm not running to a meeting or prepping for a people-filled event, I have been full to the brim with others' words and ideas. However! I'm also happy to say that most days I get outdoors. Sometimes I have a camera, which I'm still learning to use. So here are some pictures for you to look at. In mid-October, I brought the rowboat around and it was raining. I have really cute boots. Look up, look down, look all around. I like to pretend I meant to do the distortion, but it's really just the multi-paned glass in the kitchen. I really like taking pictures because--even for me, the Queen of Let's Add Some Words--they don't normally involve words. I just look and then futz around till I enjoy what I see. Which is how I know I'm a dedicated picture-taker, not a photographer. I am an amateur. I do it f...

This year has seemed a little back-to-front. Suddenly we had some summer--just when the calendar started hinting at autumn, and I'd resigned myself to doing the indoor things that needed doing. Like that writing thing. Still, we're happy to have had the chance to finish some important-but-unglamorous projects that required manual labor. Adjusting to the weather always always always tests my (metaphoric) flexibility. If I have a morning blocked out to get through the revisions on a story, and the day dawns rain-free and temperate, going outdoors requires actual physical wrenching. I force myself upstairs to put on the mud-covered jeans and denim work shirt; I force myself outdoors: "Just bring back one load of stuff from the little place, and then you can quit," I tell myself. (Then I test my physical flexibility, which is also not naturally great.) Sometimes that one load really is all I do. Sometimes I do more. But I do something. And 99 times out of 100, I enj...