WordWorks Article - Gloria Barkley: Poet, Sculptor and Survivor

Katrin Horowitz interviews Wattle and Daub author Gloria Barkley about her book Water Window Mirror in the Fall 2014 issue of The Federation of British Columbia Writers' WordWorks magazine:

"The only thing that frightens Gloria Barkley anymore is spiders. So much so that her Coquitlam clay studio is equipped with a special trap to keep them from running over her feet. But this poet and sculptor uses her fear to create artistic spiders, because spiders as metaphor intrigue her: they show up both in her poems and as figures she fashions from clay...

"...after a medical journey that included far too many misdiagnoses, she discovered she was allergic to 95 different foods and food additives, ranging from wheat to caffeine, nitrates to sulphites. And much in the same way she transforms her fear of spiders into art (which she wryly names after food additives), she has turned her long narrative of frightening hallucinations, feelings of non-reality, anxiety, depression and something like the flu — together with the attempts to treat her symptoms — into an impressive book of poems, entitled Water Window Mirror..."

Side Effects (p.53)

Phantom spiders

crawl

along her skin

pause at pores

their legs tap

erratic

codes

she dare not

decipher.

Please click here for the full article.

Nice Makes Write: An Interview with Casey Wolf

photo by Patrice, La Vale de Jakmel, Ayiti, 2006.

by Robert Runté

8 February 2010

(From the introduction:)

Casey Wolf is the author of numerous speculative short stories, several of which were recently collected as Finding Creatures & Other Stories by C. June Wolf.

Wolf’s stories represent a uniquely Canadian approach to fantasy: where others write about the astronaut hero, she writes about the father who is left behind; where others write about planetary conquest, she writes about multiculturalism and the respect for alien life; where others write about revenge, she writes about reconciliation; where others write stories filled with sound and fury signifying nothing, her stories quietly engage the reader in the real lives of ordinary people—who become extraordinary because they have imagination, perspective, courage—and above all—integrity.

Yet, unlike a lot of CanLit, her stories are never depressing or dry. The speculative element makes her stories both more interesting and, in some strange sense, more real than other Canadian literature exploring the same themes. Consequently, I really wanted to ask Casey about her writing, and how her settings, themes, and characters reflected her Canadian upbringing. She graciously agreed to this interview.

Follow this link for the full interview at Strange Horizons.

Live on the Drive with Addena Sumter-Freitag

Addena performs her poetry and is interviewed by Steve Duncan of Live on the Drive. (Commercial Drive, that is. In East Vancouver, BC.)

Interview, Chat and Contest with Author C. June Wolf

***Online Event***

Interview, Chat and Contest with Author C. June Wolf on Bitten By Books.

After the interview Casey participated in a day long question and answer session with BBB readers. Visit the site to read what they had to say. The prizes given away included a poem and a story written for the winners and inspired by their ideas.

Please Note: For best results in watching the video. Hit play and let the video load completely. Sometimes it takes a few minutes to load depending on your internet service.

HiSciFi Interview of C. June (Casey) Wolf

Casey Wolf was Interviewed at VCon 33 by Irma Arkus of HiSciFi.com.

click here to go straight to the mp3.