Writer Michael Winter has a habit of mining his own life for stories, but not all of his friends and family enjoy turning up in his fiction.
The Newfoundland author talked with Shelagh Rogers on CBC Radio’s Sounds Like Canada last fall about his latest novel, The Architects are Here (Penguin Canada).
The book marks the return of Gabriel English, the semi-autobiographical hero of two previous books, This All Happened (House of Anansi Press) and One Last Good Look (House of Anansi Press). Winter has also written a “faux memoir” of American illustrator Rockwell Kent, The Big Why, as well as a book of short stories.
In the interview, Winter reveals that he has gotten into some trouble for writing too closely to the truth. His brother said he would “deliver a punch to my head from which I may not recover” if he was written about again. This moment actually shows up in the novel, which features other dialogue taken verbatim from real conversations.
Winter was born in England and grew up in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. He now splits his time between Toronto and St. John’s, which he calls balancing rural and urban life. One of the things he talks about in the interview is his real-life fall into an industrial incinerator.
Shelagh Rogers spoke to Michael Winter last September, just after the birth of his son.
Originally aired September 27, 2007 on Sounds Like Canada. [runs 20:26]
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