Joanna Cockerline is the author of the new novel Still. She is also the co-author of the story collection Seeing Our Sisters. She teaches at the University of British Columbia Okanagan.
Q: What inspired you to write Still, and how did you create your character Kayla?
A: Still has been brewing in my mind for many years, and that intensified doing street outreach over the past eight years.
Kayla is fictional, and not based on any one person, but is inspired by own experiences, those of people I’ve known, and people with whom I’ve become friends on street outreach. As a character, she came to life for me and basically told me the story I needed to write.
Q: The writer Kevin Chong said of the book, “Suffused with tenderness, Still celebrates and uplifts the marginalized...” What do you think of that assessment?
A: I have great affection for my characters, and I’m glad that is coming through. People have really been able to connect with them, and some of my biggest fans are those living on the street or engaged in street-level sex work, who feel seen and heard.
Q: Did you know how the novel would end before you started writing it, or did you make many changes along the way?
A: I wrote and rewrote Still three times, with thousands upon thousands of revisions and reworkings along the way. Ultimately, I let the characters come to life and determine where the story wanted to go.
Q: How was the book's title chosen, and what does it signify for you?
A: Stillness suggests a sort of peace that I wanted to bring out, and also a sense of lasting endurance. It is a word featured in the book during a few key scenes, and also the end, so it really resonated for me. I wanted to explore the possibility of seeing beauty and hope still, despite challenges.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: I’m excited to be working on a sequel to the novel Still, which includes some of the same characters, as they really wanted to live on. The new novel is set during a wildfire in Kelowna, and explores how the fire impacts the housed, unhoused, newly unhoused, and all the beings in the land. I’m hopeful that it, too, explores ideas of strength and hope despite.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: It’s been a wonderful journey working with the innovative independent press The Porcupine’s Quill. It’s exciting to see unique Canadian stories getting out there, and wonderful that as part of that continuum Still was recognized for the Giller Prize long list and CBC Fall Reading List.
I hope readers can continue to be engaged with the diverse spectrum of voices that comprise a vibrant Canadian literary scene.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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