Ottawa author Andrew Steinmetz’s book This Great Escape: The Case of Michael Paryla is on the shortlist for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction, to the delight of about 40 people who rooted for its recognition at the book’s launch at Raw Sugar Café Sept. 19.
Steinmetz’s friends, family, and colleagues at Biblioasis, the literary press through which his book was published, attended the launch. His children, Sonya Tarasuk and Emil Tarasuk sold copies of the book at the entrance of the crowded café. Steinmetz’s wife, Jill Tarasuk, travelled to each table, chatting with attendees and offering them drinks and snacks.
As they waited for Steinmetz to speak, attendees discussed the challenges faced by authors trying to publicize their work in today’s publishing industry.
Sonia Tilson, an author whose book The Monkey Puzzle Tree, also published by Biblioasis, said she was “very, very, lucky” to have her book published.
“I didn’t use social media to get my book published,” Tilson said. “I know that people have to work very hard with . . . social media [to get] their names seen.”
Steinmetz said he also didn’t use social media to create and publicize his work.
“As a writer, I just . . . write,” he explained. “I do what I can do and I leave it up to the publishers and the producers to deal with [social media].”
John Metcalf, the Fiction Editor at Biblioasis, disagreed with the notion that contemporary technology makes it easier for authors to publicize their work.
“At base . . . there’s no difference between what’s being done now and what was being done a thousand years ago,” he said. “It all comes down to people being able to put things down in a very compelling way.”
Local actor John Koensgen and Metcalf introduced Steinmetz from a platform at the back of the café.
Koensgen said he gave Steinmetz acting lessons to help the author relate to Michael Paryla, the actor whose life he wrote about in This Great Escape: The Case of Michael Paryla. Koensgen described Steinmetz as a “humble, quiet man.”
“I get nervous before reading,” admitted the soft-spoken Steinmetz.
The crowd chuckled as Steinmetz swapped his regular glasses for his reading glasses to read a few pages from his book.
After the reading, Steinmetz lingered at each table for a few minutes, laughing and chatting with attendees.
Steinmetz’s past published works include a memoir, Wardlife: The Apprenticeship of a Young Writer as a Hospital Clerk, and two poetry collections, Hurt Thyself and Histories.
Both Steinmetz and Metcalf said they were “surprised” This Great Escape: The Case of Michael Paryla was shortlisted for the Hilary Weston Writers’ Trust Prize for Nonfiction.
“I’m always surprised when anything good comes to the attention of more than about half a dozen people in Canada,” explained Metcalf. “[But] I hope a very large number of people are going to have the pleasure of reading it because of its exposure on the shortlist of the [prize].”
