Blog

← Back to Blog

Alison Pick Wins CBC Literary Award

by monique t
Fiction + News / February 27, 2006

The front page of today's National Post Arts & Life section is entirely taken up by a lovely profile/excerpt/photo of Alison Pick and her book, The Sweet Edge.

Alison is the winner of the CBC Literary Awards.

Links:
National Post article
CBC Literary Awards article

"From stanzas to bonanza: CBC Literary Award winner Alison Pick makes the leap from poetry to novels" by Vanessa Farquharson, National Post

It might seem the best way for a poet to become a novelist would be to test the waters of the short-story genre. But when Alison Pick waded in, she didn't get very far.

"It's one of the most difficult forms because it requires the density of poetry but the narrative of fiction," she says, adding, "I wrote some really crappy short stories."

But instead of running back to the safety of stanzas, she decided to dive head-first into the fiction pool instead. It paid off. Her new book, The Sweet Edge, is a seamless marriage of poetic language and engaging dialogue. So far, it's received nothing but positive reviews.

Later in the article Pick says, "I think of my poetry and fiction as separate but complementary," she adds. "It's not uncommon to hear poets say you can't do both, like there's a feeling that if you move to fiction you're selling out ... But for me it definitely felt like an organic, real pull. It's the same muscle being exercised, just in different ways."

Quick facts about Alison Pick:
She won the CBC Literary Award for her book Question & Answer (Raincoast), a collection of poetry.

Pick recently embarked on the 60-day canoe trip in the Arctic that her Sweet Edge protagonist takes.

She studied at the University of Guelph and was writer in residence at the Wallace Stegner House, S.K.

Alison Pick is the 2002 Bronwen Wallace Award winner for most promising unpublished writer under 35 in Canada.

Excerpt of The Sweet Edge
Click the link to read a PDF excerpt of The Sweet Edge. Or see below for the excerpt featured in the National Post:

Adam's roommates leave for the weekend and he invites Ellen over for dinner. They've known each other for months but this is the first time they've been alone together in one of their houses. Adam has a copy of the Dating Survival Handbook.

If your date is choking, do the Heimlich, Ellen reads aloud.

Nobody has a date. A date is so old fashioned.

How do you know if you're on a date or a date?

Good point, agrees Adam.

And then there's the blind date. A truly bizarre and tortuous social ritual.

Have you ever been on a date?

Ellen has been on several dates. No, she says.

Me neither. I usually just hang out with the person.

And they look at each other, they can't look away, they can't wipe the grins from their faces.

Ellen is used to boys having a crush on her. She knows the things that all very beautiful women know. How to say no. Be kind, very kind, turn them down without acknowledging that they have asked. Never ever sit them down and say you aren't interested. They do not want to hear this, they do not want to feel rejected. All the silly computer boys, the fawning boy from Spanish 101, the boys from boarding school with their penny loafers and golf clubs. She has an equanimity code, a standard set of procedures to enact as though all boys are equal but what she really likes is a boy who takes control. She likes to ask questions--she has another question and another--she likes to tip her head back and laugh. Adam is confident and not too swayed by her looks. He has words to fill a silence. He has an opinion, always, and strong advice to give. You should grow your hair again, Ellen, he says.

You saw me with longer hair?

I liked it.

You liked it better?

You're one of those women whose hair gets shorter as they get older.

The ripe old age of twenty-seven.

Comments

On January 14, 2008 at 06:34 AM, bocanci protectie said:

On February 01, 2008 at 01:33 PM, Technology Transfer Services said:

Leave a Comment