LitMinds Blog and Interviews

John Mutford must win the award for the "Northernmost" LitMind.   He lives in Iqaluit, which sits up in a Canadian territory by the Arctic Circle.  We're thrilled to have John as part of the LitMinds community and to have him actively contributing his insights to the discussions. 

John is an avid reader and teacher, and also writes a popular blog, The Book Mine Set, which just celebrated its 10,000th visitor. He's also running an active campaign to secure a spot on Canada Reads, a radio program that as John puts it, is the "Superbowl" of Canadian literary debate.  We asked John to tell us about his blogging life as well as his hometown, teaching, writing, and love of reading. 

And, as we just learned, we're his "first" interview!  When John's famous and a Canada Reads champion, remember you read first about him here!

1) You recently set out to gain a coveted panelist spot on the Canada Reads radio program.  Can you tell us a bit more about this event and what inspired you to pursue this?  What can LitMinds do to support your cause?
First started in 2002, Canada Reads is an annual program of CBC Radio (Canadian Broadcasting Company).  Each year five celebrity panelists play what is hailed as a game of "literary survivor".  They each champion a work of fiction, trying to convince one another that their choice is the best book for all Canadians to read.  Each day a book is put back on the shelf until a winner is chosen.

I've become a huge fan of the program and often I refer to it as my Superbowl.  Usually the books to be debated are announced in late fall. I then gear up for the event by reading each one and deciding for myself which book I'd pick.  Come February, when the debates actually happen, I'm glued to the radio for half an hour a day, cheering when my favourite survives and booing when it doesn't.  This year my favourite was chosen.  Heather O'Neill's "Lullabies For Little Criminals" took the honours. O'Neill was a lesser known author in Canada and this is sure to do wonders for her career.

There are so many things I like about the show.  While I realize finding a book that would truly appeal to every single Canadian is near impossible, it's a great bit of fun.  Plus the debates that come out of it are fantastic.  How often does the general population consider the value of a novel versus short stories?  What defines a "trendy" book?  And so forth.

This year the Canada Reads site posted a question asking who we, the listeners, would like to hear on next year's program.  Secretly longing to take part ever since the program had begun, I jumped on the opportunity.  I am trying to make the case that it is time to put an average Canadian on the program.  I'm not sure exactly what an average Canadian is, or if I even fit the bill, but my point is that rockstars, politicians and athletes need not dominate the debates.  For ratings sakes, I'd still support having a mixed panel. In fact, I think people would be more likely to tune in to hear how well Joe Canuck competes against the stars.  Of course, the main reason I want to be on the show is admittedly more self-serving than that; it would be a fan's dream come true.  I know I can debate books with the best of them and would be honoured to take part.

If any of the LitMinds community would like to show their support, there are a number of ways you can help:

• Write a small blurb on your own blogs about my endeavour
• Listen to this year's debates online at http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/debate/index.html and drop them a quick email (let them know that John Mutford sent you!)
• Offer your suggestions and support on my blog here
  

2)  You live in Iqaluit, the official capital of Nunavut, which is the largest and newest territory of Canada.  This seems pretty darn remote.   How did you come to live here?  Can you share something unique about the area that most of us might not know?
Originally I'm from the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.  I met my wife-to-be while attending university and we knew that when we finished school we wanted an adventure.  Our education degrees could take us to a lot of places, so we weighed our options.  Japan, England, the U.S., and the arctic all topped our list.  In the end, Nunavut took the lead.  While Nunavut is such a large part of our own country, we really didn't know a lot about it.  I guess patriotism and curiousity won out! 

Initially we settled in a small town called Rankin Inlet.  We spent four wonderful years there.  We saw polar bears, had a chance to sleep in an iglu, and try dogsledding.  Most importantly though, our daughter was born there.  But after four years, and my wife pregnant with our son, we decided it was time to go back to Newfoundland and be near our extended families.  We did that for a year and while it was nice for the grandparents to have a chance to bond, we soon realized our hearts were still in the great white north.  We decided to go back to Nunavut.  This time around we chose Iqaluit.  As the capital city, it has more to do in terms of our own personal interests.

What most people don't realize about Nunavut is the great numbers of cultures that live here.  Most people think of the Inuit first and the white settlers second.  What they don't realize is that it is not unusual to meet people from all over the world here.  We've made friends from Norway, Jamaica, and Australia just to name a few.  The predominate culture here is still of course, the Inuit culture, and if you ever get an opportunity to visit and take some of it in, I highly recommend it.  While there has been much modernization, you can still see drum dancing, watch traditional Inuit sports, and listen to the mesmerizing sounds of throat singing.  But if you can't make the trip, you can still hear throat singing.  Nunavut's own Tanya Tagaq sings on Bjork's "Medulla" CD as well as her own album, "Sinaa".

3) This week, you welcomed your 10,000th visitor to your blog, The Book Mine Set.  Congratulations.  Can you share a story or two of something unexpected that has happened during your growth as a blogger?
Thanks!  To be honest, this interview ranks up there with the most unexpected for me!

As anyone who blogs can attest, the first time you get a stranger's comments is exciting.  To get comments from someone you've never met, is part of the fun.  But what was truly a pleasant surprise was the sense of community.  I started the blog back when I was in Newfoundland and almost instantly I was part of the local blogging circle, which grew into the Newfoundland and Labrador blogroll.  By then my readership had grown and I was getting a faithful following from as far away as Alberta and the U.S.  Some of these have grown into friendships, complete with Christmas cards!

Also unexpected was the occassional author visit.  I know of at least three instances in which an author I had written about checked out my blog.  One particular author, Shannon Patrick Sullivan, even got into a bit of a friendly dialogue with me about his book.  It was an amazing experience for a reader.  I'm not sure if other authors have wandered upon my musings or not, but it's always in the back of my head, especially after I've written a particularly unpleasant post (which I try not to let happen too often).

4) On your LitMinds profile, you note that you have imposed a reading sequence on yourself that includes reading Canadian fiction and non-fiction.  This must make you quite an expert in the realm of Canadian literary works.  (I personally don’t think most Canadian authors get the recognition they deserve.)  Can you share a few of your top book recommendations and why you would recommend them?
Wow, I'd hardly go as far as saying I'm an expert on Canadian literature!  It's probably true that not a lot of Canadian authors have gotten a lot of recognition outside of the country, but it's certainly not for a shortage of good books.  While I've read a smattering from most of our most well known authors, there are a lot of glaring omissions; Douglas Coupland's "Generation X" comes to mind, as do most of our books written pre-1930 or so. 

But I guess I have read enough to pass along a few recommendations:
1. Wayne Johnston's "Colony of Unrequited Dreams"- This is a brilliant metaphor for the plight and circumstance of the Newfoundland people.
2. Mordecai Richler's "Barney's Version"- Canada has a great knack for satire and I can't think of anyone who's done it better than Richler.
3. Al Purdy's "Rooms For Rent In The Outer Planets"- A fabulous collection of witty and beautiful poetry.
4. Margaret Laurence's "A Bird In The House"- This is a Canadian classic and once you read it, you know why.
5. John Gould's "Kilter 55 Fictions"- I'm not sure if the word for these is "flash fiction" or not, but they are VERY short stories. What he is able to communicate in so few words is incredible. It's like short stories meet poetry.

5) You are a parent and an elementary school teacher for English as a Second Language.  We so often hear in the media that young people are reading less – a negative story that I am not totally convinced of as an educator myself.  Can you draw from your experiences to share some thoughts or anecdotes about children and their enjoyment of reading?
If children are reading less, it's because we are not presenting them with enough reading.  When exposed to a great book, it's been my experience that children still love reading and being read to!  My own kids have a fascination with Eric Carle books and can almost recite them.  Likewise, I've seen even the most notorious of students join in with "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom" and "We're Going On A Bear Hunt."  It's obvious that I teach younger children I guess, but if they can show that much enthusiasm at a young age, there's no reason that their interest should suddenly leave them.  I'd also like to add that I think the whole conception of children having short attention spans is a myth when it comes to good books.  Sometimes it is merely a product of a bland reading.  I've found that when a child truly loves a book, s/he wants to hear it over and over and over.

6) You also feature some of your own writing on your blog. Was this a natural progression from reading?
Yes and no. I'm guessing it's pretty safe to say that most avid readers also long to be writers; I'm not alone in that regard.  But my love of poetry actually went the other way around.  I wanted to write poetry, so I felt I needed to read more first.  However, it wasn't an easy progression to go from blogging about reading to blogging about writing.  I had a lot of reservations about it in fact.  Initially I felt that if my own writing wasn't absolutely "perfect" it would discredit anything I had to say about other people's work.  Now I just view it as playing fair.  If an author doesn't like something I have to say, they can always pick apart my work in return!  Plus, I've enjoyed the feedback I've gotten.  Compliments and constructive criticism are always welcome.  Heck, if someone just wants to have a laugh at my expense, then that's okay too!

7) What do you like about the LitMinds community?
I only recently discovered the site and I am thoroughly impressed.  I love the discussion boards in particular.  It's like I can listen in on various book clubs and decide which one to enter!  One of the reasons I initially started blogging about books was because I had been living in a town that was too small for me to find similar minded people with a similar taste in literature.  The blog has helped, but Litminds takes it one step further.  It's like a community of communities.  I can easily find other people with similar interests and tastes, or if I'm feeling a little more adventerous, I can check out something new.  The more that join, the better!

You can check out John's LitMinds profile here.