WordFest: The Writer’s Life with Yann Martel

WordFest

WordFest, in its 15^thyear, is an international writer’s festival that brought many great and interactive events between writers and readers! Over 65 events occurred, such as reading, poetry and spoken word presentations, with over 70 local and worldwide authors. WeiJia (a fellow blogger) and I luckily attended event 45, the Writing Life, at the Vertigo Theatre Studio where Eleanor Catton, Rebecca James, Peter Robinson and YANN MARTEL met together to talk about the highs and lows of what dedicating your life to being a writer was all about.

Yann Martel

Yann Martel is the winner of the Man Booker Prize for The Life of Pi, a lyrical and vivid rendition of a young boy surviving together on a boat with a tiger, chimpanzee and zebra. He has also recently written Beatrice and Virgil. The Life of Pi had been my class study in Grade 11 English class, and usually the authors of such books, as I expected, are not of this century. My English class had furious and often challenged discussions of the very topics that the Life of Pi touched, from morality to the human condition. My whole English class could not make up their minds as to whether the book was truly the fictional narrative the book claimed to be, or if Pi was actually Richard Parker. This book was an astounding piece of literature in high school for me, and the moment I realized Yann Martel was not dead and was coming to Calgary, I was extremely ecstatic to go see him! I had guessed that the event would be inspirational, and would boost my confidence to write as an inevitable journalist, and it delightfully turned out, I was right.

The Writer’s Life at WordFest

Simplistically set, a circle of Victorian high back chairs, seating the esteemed writers, surrounded a low table, with neatly placed drinking glasses and a water pitcher. (Writers can speak the same amount of words they pack inside a book!) Encircling these writers was the audience, encouraged to actively participate and ask questions. For an hour, the interviewer sitting inside the circle of writers would set the motion with a couple of generic, open ended questions, and the writers would take turns answering the questions, and opened up the floor for questions from the audience as well. The answers of Yann Martel were at times quite humorous and delightfully sensible, and it was great to finally hear the “Life of Yann Martel”.

Yann’s Career as a Writer

Yann Martel started his career off in a literary magazine, having received 125 dollars for a quaint story.  Early in his writing career, becoming a serious writer had not occurred to him, having sent 19 short stories, receiving 19 subsequent rejection letters, and was barely affected. However, Yann learned at his discontentment in his studies at university, even though he wasn’t an exceptional writer at the time, he just love to write, and preserved to write many critically acclaimed novels. There aren’t any set rules for writers, and Yann Martel has his own schedule. The process of a book can be very slow for him, says Yann, as he does a tremendous amount of research when writing a book, and plans his entire novel from start to finish, as “the first sentence determines the last sentence,” for him.

Teaching the Prime Minster to Read

Every 2 weeks, Yann Martel sends a book to the Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, including a letter explaining his selection, and Yann receives a politely answered letter of doubted thanks back. Why does Yann Martel go to such lengths? If the Prime Minister is always focused on economics and does not read meaningful literature on human condition, Yann Martel questions how our Prime Minister can tolerate and understand differences?  So Yann Martel has this “lonely book club” with the Prime Minister, because “if the common people do not read, that’s okay… but if our elites do not read, how do we expect them to relate and govern us?” It was extremely interesting to hear Yann’s take on the state of politics.

The funniest thing Yann said

WeiJia and I were smiling at the response as the question arose, what emotions do you feel when you write about the victims in your book? Where do you find the courage? Yann had said something similar to “The Life of Pi was a joyful tragedy to write from start to finish, because you know life endure…” Joyful tragedy, interesting. All in all, it was a fabulous opportunity to see Yann Martel, the author of the book that I had spent a good chunk of my life analyzing.

Thanks goes to the University of Calgary’s radio station, CJSW, for providing me tickets to this event, and the similarly spectacular opportunity to interview my childhood hero, Kenneth Oppel, the author of the Silverwing Saga!