Category Archives: Essays

Guy Gavriel Kay described the process of picking his six favourite books as a thoroughly regrettable, “evil, sadistic exercise.” This first appeared at www.cbc.ca in 2016.   The historical fiction that first hooked him Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff … Continue reading →

This  first appeared at https://thewalrus.ca in 2016.  I wrote my first, never-published book in a fishing village on the south coast of Crete at the end of the 1970s. I went back, two winters later, to write most of The Summer … Continue reading →

This first appeared at http://boingboing.net/ in 2016.  The origin story of Children of Earth and Sky, my current novel, begins with my Croatian editor being the first person ever to tell me about the Uskoks of Senj. He did that … Continue reading →

Public performances are another aspect of the writer’s business about which I feel some ambivalence. There are ironies here: I enjoy reading aloud, and I derive a great deal of pleasure from meeting readers. What’s the problem, then? Well, I’ve … Continue reading →

Toastmaster Address, World Fantasy Awards 2007 This was the toastmaster address GGK delivered at the World Fantasy Awards banquet in Saratoga Springs, at WFC 2007. It lacks the ad libs and the laugh track, but does have an addendum with … Continue reading →