Anansi: You're a journalist with a passion for personal politics. How do you feel about the current state of journalism? Do you feel a return to the literary nonfiction pieces of yore, or is it just about the catchiest tagline?
Shawn: Great question. I love the immediacy of online publishing. At the same time, I think there's room for a little bit of everything in the realm of journalism, whether we are talking about books, magazines and journals, or the web. I really appreciate breezy and accessible writing, but detailed investigative work scratches a different kind of itch. Canadian mags like Geist and Maisonneuve seem to operate well on both levels.
Anansi: When you get downtime, what kind of books do you like to relax with?
Shawn: I'm really big on short stories, in part because I appreciate what can be accomplished in that form, and also because I'm working on a short-fiction collection myself, so I need to study! For example, I recently devoured both of Lisa Moore's Open and Degrees of Nakedness one right after the other-- and I'm a big Bill Gaston fan (plus I think he's hot!). I like eclectic books that blend different forms. I'm about to hop on a plane to New York for a month-long writing program at the New School, and my plane and subway reading will be the Anansi Reader, which seems to get that mix just right.
Anansi: Where can we find you along the Internet Highway?
Shawn: I'm online at http://www.shawnsyms.ca, where you can see samples of my writing. I can often be found on the homepage of the national LGBT site xtra.ca, where I write a monthly column taking a closer look at "sex and drugs," called Free Agent. And I do occasional blog postings for This Magazine online at blog.thismagazine.ca.
|
Follow us on facebook!
Follow us on twitter!
