Interviewing other writers
Writing life: 90
Back in November 2022—seems like a very long time ago—I wrote a post about onstage interviews covering instances when I was being interviewed, and when I was the one posing the questions. I continue to participate in both kinds of onstage interviews and thought an update might warranted. But for this post, I’ll focus on a few more recent events when I’ve been interviewing other authors, or soon will be.
My approach… such as it is
In my earlier post I wrote about some of the onstage—sometimes online—interviews I’ve conducted with other writers including Fredrik Backman, Mary Walsh, Iceland’s then First Lady Eliza Reid, among many others over the years. I find these situations more daunting and anxiety-inducing than being interviewed. Not a brilliant insight, I suppose, but it really does take preparation to do it well—something to which I’m still aspiring! But you know it when it goes well. You can feel it from the audience, and the writer sitting across from you onstage.
Usually I prepare very brief welcoming remarks in case I’m handling that part of the event, too. In fact, I prepare welcoming remarks even if I’ve been expressly told that somebody else will be handling that. I also prepare an introduction for the author I’m interviewing, again, even if I’ve been told someone else will introduce the two of us. I do this because on more than one occasion, I’ve arrived at an event and suddenly been asked to handle emcee duties as well as the onstage interview. Now, I’m always ready for any eventuality, including answering my own questions if the headlining writer falls on the venue’s front steps, breaks her leg, and can’t go on—and no, that hasn’t yet happened.
I tend to write my series of questions on my laptop in a largish font. Then I work on the flow of the conversation to ensure it’s smooth and logical, one topic streaming into the next without any sharp corners or rough edges. Finally, I go over the questions several times, ideally reaching the point where I know them very well, without them quite being memorized. When I’m happy with my notes, I take screen shots of those pages, and load them onto my iPad Mini so I’m not wrangling several rustling pieces of paper onstage. I just swipe through my screens and it all seems to work well for me—but every interviewer has their preferred approach.
In the interview itself, I try to pose the questions very conversationally, almost as if I’m making them up on the spot, even if my eyes occasionally wander to my screen from time to time. No one in the audience wants to see and hear me mechanically read my questions verbatim from my iPad Mini.
The key point is to listen carefully to what the writer is saying rather than tuning them out and getting lost in prepping for your next question. I prefer that the “interview” feels like a conversation not an interrogation. So there is a little “acting” involved in making a well-prepared interview seem like a spontaneous conversation. But it also means being ready to follow a new or unexpected thread the writer may have just introduced, and departing from your list of Qs to pose a question extemporaneously, just so you can follow the writer’s lead. As well, it’s happened to me that in responding to one question, the writer actually answers my next question, too. You won’t know that unless you’re listening. It would be embarrassing to follow up with the very question that the writer has just finished answering. (I think there’s a comedy sketch demonstrating this by Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie. If there isn’t, there should be.)
The other idea I try to keep in mind is that I’m the surrogate for the audience. So, I’m often asking questions to which I already know the answer, but perhaps most in the audience members do not. The interview is not for my edification and entertainment, but the audience’s.
One of my favourite onstage interviews was with John Irving at Toronto’s Badminton and Racquet Club in February 2023. It was also the interview about which I was most nervous. Why, you ask? Well, it was John Irving—one of my all-time favourite writers and guiding literary lights. We worked together to prepare and it all went well. Knowing how I felt about Irving’s novels, my wife Nancy sat near the front and gamely took about 300 photos on her phone as discreetly as one can take 300 photos in an hour-long interview. I scroll through them often just as a reminder that it actually happened.
Another memorable onstage interview was with the aforementioned Fredrik Backman, Sweden’s most popular literary export. In fact, I’ve interviewed him twice now onstage. A lovely, funny, and very thoughtful writer.
Recent author interviews
Marc Garneau
This past June we lost the respected federal cabinet minister and Canada’s first astronaut, Marc Garneau. It felt so sudden—so unexpected. Eight months earlier his memoir, A Most Extraordinary Ride, was released. Last October, I was privileged to interview Marc Garneau before an adoring crowd of about 300 people in Burlington, two days before the novel was released. It was his first event promoting the new book. I did write a post about that event, but felt, in light of his recent passing, I wanted to mention the event, and him, again.
Marc and I had known each other for about a dozen years after he kindly helped me with my third novel, Up and Down back in 2011. And when we reconnected shortly before this Burlington event, he was just as nice, interesting, and interested as I’d remembered him to be.
Rik Emmett
I’ve written about meeting and coming to know Rik, at least a little, in an earlier post. He was the lead guitarist, songwriter, singer and cofounder of the band Triumph. I was pleased to blurb Rik’s new book, Ten Telecaster Tales, earlier this year. So it was a thrill to interview him onstage at a Springtide Music Festival/Book Drunkard Festival event in June in Uxbridge, Ontario. I also wrote about this interview in my recent Miscellany #6 post.
I mentioned earlier that I usually load my iPad Mini with screen shots of my notes. To illustrate, here are pages 1 and 3 of my notes that guided my conversation with Rik Emmett. Beyond being a supremely talented guitarist and singer, he’s also a lovely guy.
True Crime Panel at Motive 2025
Moderating a panel is a little different from interviewing a single author onstage. There are more moving parts, and more potential for the conversation to head off the rails. It just means being more alert and even more engaged in what’s happening onstage. I’ve never had a panel I was moderating go south—at least, not yet—but it often means you have to manage your time and panelists a little more actively to make sure every writer gets their fair share of voice.
I recently moderated a True Crime panel at Motive 2025, an annual gathering of mystery, crime and thriller writers. I enjoyed myself and no crimes were committed during the panel.
Upcoming author interviews
Linwood Barclay (September 6, St. Lawrence Writers’ Festival Brockville)
I’ve known Linwood Barclay for many years now and witnessed his meteoric rise to international fame as a thriller writer. Not many writers I know have risen to the heights that Linwood has and it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.
I’ll be interviewing Linwood at the St. Lawrence Writers’ Festival in September about his new horror novel, Whistle, and the departure it represents from his backlist of thrillers. I’m looking forward to it. In the meantime, here’s a shot of us appearing together in 2023 at Calgary’s Wordfest.
Steve Paikin (September 11, Toronto)
Early in September I’ll be interviewing my pal, writer and broadcaster Steve Paikin about his long and storied—again, pun intended—career in journalism. To be fair, we’re actually splitting the interviewing duties that night. For half the time I’ll be interviewing Steve, and for the other half, he’ll be interviewing me.
Steve is a great friend—he went to UofT with my twin brother Tim—and we’ve known each other for a long time. For a few years now, Tim, Steve, and I will travel to Ottawa when the Toronto Maple Leafs are playing the Ottawa Senators. It’s fun being anywhere with Steve given that he’s a recognizable TV celebrity after hosting The Agenda, a daily public affairs show on TVO until he recently retired from that demanding and exhausting gig after 19 seasons! People he doesn’t know are always approaching him to say hello and pay him a compliment.
Steve was also the guy who first interviewed me back in 2007 about my debut novel, The Best Laid Plans. Here’s the first part of my interview with Steve all those years ago:
Thomas King (October 19, Wordfest, Calgary)
Coming up at Wordfest in Calgary, I’ll be hosting a celebration of the great writer Thomas King. The details haven’t yet been released, but part of the event will be an onstage interview with the Leacock Medal-winning writer I have admired for many years. I’m sure we’ll talk about his new novel coming out on August 26. I’m really looking forward to this.
Alan Doyle (November 4, Book Drunkard Festival, Uxbridge)
In early November, I’ll be back at the Book Drunkard Festival in Uxbridge to interview singer, songwriter, writer, and Great Big Sea cofounder, Alan Doyle about his new book The Smiling Land. I’ve been a Great Big Sea for a very, very long time. I met Alan once at the famed Woody Point Writers Festival in 2015. Both of our books that year had been finalists for the Leacock Medal, so we have that in common. He’s a very nice, talented, and funny guy. I’m sure we’ll have a laugh or two.
Wrapping up…
I know what you may be thinking, do I only have one blue jacket to wear at writerly events? Well, I’m embarrassed to say, yes. I’ve been trying for years to find at least one or even two more jackets to round out my authorial sartorial options, but I haven’t found anything that I like as much as the one I just keep wearing. But I’m still on it.
Thanks for checking this out. I hope you’ll consider subscribing—it’s free and easy—so you don’t miss future missives. See you in two weeks.
In addition to your great interviewing suggestions, I love hearing about the various literary festivals happening around the country. Keep us posted, Terry!
You are such a skilled interviewer - I love to listen you "manage" the interview to bring out the best in the book and the author.