An interview with Derek Beaulieu

Derek Beaulieu is the author/editor of over twenty collections of poetry, prose, and criticism, including two volumes of his selected work, Please, No More Poetry (2013) and Konzeptuelle Arbeiten (2017). His most recent volume of fiction, a, A Novel was published by Paris’s Jean Boîte Editions. Beaulieu has exhibited his visual work across Canada, the United States, and Europe and has won multiple local and national awards for his teaching and dedication to students. Derek Beaulieu holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Roehampton University and is the Director of Literary Arts at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

He can be found online at www.derekbeaulieu.wordpress.com

How did you begin writing, and what keeps you going?

Writing starts with a metaphorical itch in my hands; a desire to make something, to push ingredients around, to explore -- and that itch is fueled by reading and by conversation. Reading voraciously and talking to writers makes me want to write -- and a good book will always reward me by pushing me to respond. 

How has the process of putting together a manuscript evolved? How do you decide on the shape and size of a manuscript?

The key, to me, is process; its a habit of making a thing. Sometimes process means a more conceptual project (like my books flatland: a romance of many dimensions and a, A Novel) where the parameters of the project are set out in advance (i.e.: a page-by-page response to someone else's work, the structural thinking is done in advance and then merely followed-through upon), or when its a slightly more traditional poetic project (say, like, my books Aperture or Kern), i look for a dialogue between the poems included, a structural or thematic which binds the work together ... or sometimes it may be time-based (i.e.: all the work i made within a date range) or aesthetically (i..e: all the work i created with a certain material or with a certain mindset).

That openness has grown over the decades i've been writing. I was educated at the University of Calgary where, at that time, the emphasis was on the long-poem, the manuscript length exploration of a thematic concern (most often place or community) within a single long poem. That thinking still impacts me but i also look to see what the work itself requires.

Given you work in text and visual mediums, how do the two sides of your writing interact? How did you begin with visual poems at all?

Visual poems, concrete poems, may look different than a traditional verse-based poem, but, in fact, there are more similarities than differences. I think the impetus to create in the poet is the same - the desire to create and communicate, and the process of beginning is also the same - letter by letter, seeking balance, beauty, surprise and the edges of one's own practice - what can i do with my tools than i haven't done before, how ca i surprise myself? And just like visual art, poetry looks to the same qualities, the same markers of success - the difference to me is simply: is it hanging on a wall? is it perched in a book?

What poets have influenced the ways in which you write?

There are so many poets, fiction writers and visual arts who have impacted my thinking but the one above the others has to be Canadian poet bpNichol (1944-1988). While i never had a chance to meet Nichol, the evidence of his multi-valent thinking is all over his practice: poetry, novels, children's books, computer poems, small press publishing, mentor-ship, operas ...always rturning to the play of letters themselves. 

You are co-editor/publisher of No Press. Why do you feel this work is important, and what have you learned through the process?

Small press publishing is a pleasure and a privilege; it has taught me so much about the physicality of language, the editing process, how to think of a page, what writers and readers are looking for .. i think that authors owe to their community to build spaces for others; to always think of how to distribute the news of the writers they enjoy. No press - and housepress before it - is dedicated to publishing work i find interesting, and then circulating that work world-wide in an effort to build conversation and the spread the news. Once again bpNichol's grOnk and Ganglia are huge inspirations, but so are damian lopes' fingerprinting inkoperated (now defunct), Stuart Ross' Proper Tales press, rob mclennan's above/ground press - each of these writers see the small press as a place for building community through objects, making more space than they occupy.

How important has mentorship been to your work? Is there anyone who specifically assisted your development as a writer?

Absolutely vital. All of us, whether we know it or not, are mentoring - we are setting an example -- and people are learning from the way that we interact, the models we create. I have been very lucky to have years of conversations via email with authors across the country who have been eager to chat, trade work, critique and become friends. As an undergraduate and graduate student absolutely my important teacher was Fred Wah who encouraged talking to poets, reading deeply, small press and self-publishing and creating spaces; if there was a space that you wished you saw in your community, it was your responsibility to build it, and to share that space with like-minded colleagues. The University of Calgary during his tenure there was thriving with little magazines, presses, reading series, backyard conversations, visiting authors - it was a hotbed of community. It was the loam from which a big garden grew.

What are you currently working on?

My work at Banff Centre as Director of Literary Arts takes up much of my brain-space these days, but i am working on a collaborative manuscript with Rhys Farrell which replies to my 2019 volume Aperture; it will be a day-glo, full-colour suite of visual collaborations. I also have a few smaller projects - a suite of visual poems, a series of translations of Erik Satie's Vexations which continue to keep me active ...

Can you name a poet you think should be receiving more attention?

A few poets who i think  are doing great things, and i'm always excited to see new work by, are Nasser Hussain, Helen Hajnoczky, Kate Siklosi and Dani Spinosa ... each are making work which challenges form and content, are community minded, are editing, mentoring, teaching ... and are just all-around cool people.