Fresh off a Giller Prize win, Michael Redhill is coming to Collingwood to talk about his book Bellevue Square.
Redhill will be the next guest for In The Writers Studio, presented by Simcoe Street Books. This is the second of the quarterly events presented by the book shop. It features a conversation with an author or panel of authors and the discussion is moderated by Simon Heath, local author and director of the Dunedin Literary Festival.
Redhill won the 2017 Scotiabank Giller Prize for his novel Bellevue Square, which follows character Jean as she learns she has a doppelganger and becomes obsessed with finding the look-a-like.
Redhill has written several other books including detective novels under the pseudonym Inger Ash Wolfe, two literary novels, a young adult novel, collections of poetry and two plays. This time, the inspiration for his novel is in the title. Bellevue Square Park is a park in Kensington Market that’s been there for about 150 years.
“Although its populous changes, it’s still serving the same function it has served for a century,” said Redhill. “I always liked the feeling there.”
He said he became obsessed with the park and eventually began to imagine Bellevue Square as the site of an “unusual happening.”
“The more I thought about setting part of the novel there, the more it felt right," he said.
He did some research into Bellevue Park to get the tone and feel of the place right, and his story developed from there.
“I think the book leaves some people befuddled,” said Redhill. “I think people like a challenge and they like the way this novel sort of teases them about the sovereignty of their own self. We all believe very strongly in the fact that we are people, we’re inside ourselves and we have personalities and consciousness, but maybe it’s not that simple.”
Redhill said he hoped the book shook its readers up a little and took them out of their comfort zone.
Though Redhill is no stranger to writing fiction, he said Bellevue Square represents a new tone for him.
“It mixes different kinds of genre registers. It is a bit of a thriller, but it’s also a contemplative novel that’s about what our jobs here are on earth,” he said. “I like mixing it … it gives you a greater reach if you just extend your imagination into areas that literary novels don’t often go.
It just feels like it’s expansive. And I like going in new directions.”
Redhill is looking forward to coming to Collingwood for In The Writer’s Studio, which will take place at the Simcoe Street Theatre April 29 from 3 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. He once owned a cottage in Gravenhurst and often made the trip to Collingwood for Blue Mountain’s old slide ride, or for skiing trips.
“It’s been a long time since I went up, it will be a little nostalgic I think.” said Redhill.
He is currently working on a new book, the second of the Bellevue Square triptych, called Mason of Tunica.
“It’s another kind of version of a ghost story,” he said. “It’s fun so far being buried in it.”
Tickets for In the Writer’s Studio with Michael Redhill are $10 and available online or in store at Simcoe Street Books.
