For author Leona Theis, literature is about exploring what it means to be human 鈥� and so Culture Days in Saskatchewan is about exploring what it means to live in this province.
Theis, who鈥檚 from Saskatoon, came to the Reid-Thompson Public Library Sept. 28 to read part of her yet-to-be-released novel, If Sylvie Had Nine Lives, as part of Humboldt鈥檚 Culture Days celebration.
Before becoming an author, Theis was a librarian, adult education program developer and completed a masters. It wasn鈥檛 until she moved to Australia for a year because her husband had a sabbatical that she decided to become a writer.
鈥淲e moved halfway around the world, I had a toddler to look after and I couldn鈥檛 work in Australia because I didn鈥檛 have the right legal status to work,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 loved looking after my toddler but I needed something more, especially after working so hard on my thesis.鈥�
She added that becoming a writer doesn鈥檛 require a big investment.
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 really thought about writing before then but I had had quite a few big major life events happen within a couple of years,鈥� she said, adding that she got divorced, got married, had a child, had her mother die and lost her job.
鈥淚t was this coming together of a lot of big events and that seemed to put me in a creative space.鈥�
Theis started writing short stories based on her childhood in Bredenbury, near the Manitoba border.
鈥淚 would take a memory and I would follow it to try and find some meaning and some larger story from that indelible memory.鈥�
Now, when she wants to write, she鈥檒l put together a character and an idea together and see where that will take here.
Theis has published one novel, the Art of Salvage, and one collection of stories, Sightlines. She鈥檚 working on two novels and a novella, plus a collection of memoir essays.
For her, challenges that come with writing are self-discipline, as well as the many drafts it takes to come up with something she likes.
鈥淒ifferent writers write for different reasons and for me, it鈥檚 to explore ideas,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 also just captivated by the process of making something that makes a good aesthetic shape, so for me it鈥檚 about the creation of something and working at it and working at it until until I can make it into a shape that pleases me.鈥�
