HUMBOLDT 鈥� David Carpenter, a Saskatchewan poet, short story and fiction writer, is excited to be coming back to Humboldt to share more of his work.
This will be Carpenter鈥檚 third reading in Humboldt and he is currently in the process of choosing his reading material from his vast catalogue of work, including a collection of short stories that he recently completed and a non-fiction book about his experiences with wildness predators.
He is trying to pick a fun one to bring to the same bookaholics that he has seen in the past.
鈥淭here are lots of good readers in Humboldt so I鈥檓 excited about getting back there again.鈥�
According to his website, Carpenter was 鈥渃onceived in Saskatoon and born in Edmonton, where he grew up on Saskatchewan stories,鈥� before moving to Saskatoon in 1975. Being a Canadian prairie guy, Carpenter loves fishing and feels a deep connection with prairie wildlife, especially the 鈥減redators that give us nightmares,鈥� which is why he wants to write about them.
Reading an article in the LeaderPost one day, a headline stated that Saskatchewan has a cougar problem.
This confused Carpenter.
鈥淚 thought Saskatchewan had all sorts of problems with drugs, crime, people living on the streets, drinking and driving. I didn鈥檛 think they had a cougar problem.鈥�
Looking into it, Carpenter said, there has never been a verified death or attack by a cougar in Saskatchewan. There could be an exception to that but Carpenter couldn鈥檛 find it.
Compared that statistics to the number of predators killed by humans in Western Canada, Carpenter said more consideration should be given to these predators who are more often than not the prey.
鈥淚 find myself on the predators鈥� side. One person on average gets killed by a bear in Western Canada. On the other hand, in B.C. alone, 37,000 grizzlies have been shot and killed mostly by wealthy hunters who want a big thrill.鈥�
We have won the war, Carpenter said, and wild creatures are suffering from trophy hunting and land development.
Carpenter has been a part of the writing world since his early thirties, including as a large supporter of Saskatchewan authors. Saskatchewan is well represented with award-winning authors spanning across the province with some authors needing an entire day to come to meetings in different parts of the province. Even with a population smaller than Calgary, we still have wonderful literary production that distinguishes us as a prairie culture, Carpenter said.
鈥淥ur province is linked by a network of really wonderful writers who try to create a literary society out of a province that is really sparsely populated.鈥�
While Carpenter feels isolated away from the literary centres of the world, he still feels surrounded by people who built their own network of authors and writers. That makes him proud to be in Saskatchewan, he said.
Carpenter will be reading at the Reid-Thompson Public Library on March 10 at 7:00 p.m.
