Category Archives: Essays

‘Home and Away’ is an amended form of a speech I first delivered as the keynote speech for an academic conference in Toronto, and then (with examples updated and varied) at a convention in Zagreb, Croatia. I cut the speechmaker’s … Continue reading →

This afterword first appeared in the HarperPerennial Canada 20th anniversary edition of The Tapestry, published in 2004. It is reprinted here with kind permission of the publishers.     On the occasion of an anniversary edition, there are many things … Continue reading →

Exile Sometimes a reader’s question stops you cold. Makes you cast an eye back over your own body of work and think about it differently. This can happen with an academic paper or a thoughtful review, but it feels more … Continue reading →

This piece was written for Earthlight, GGK’s British publishing house.         At the end of every novel I write, a journey begins with no known destination. I never know what my next book will be. In order … Continue reading →

This appreciation first appeared in Locus Magazine, December 2001. I met Dorothy Dunnett first in the spring of 1975, a memory I cherish and a moment that was to teach me something about writers and how they might deal graciously … Continue reading →