Shashi Bhat is the author of two books of fiction—The Family Took Shape (Cormorant Books, 2013), which was a finalist for the Thomas Randall Atlantic Fiction Award and The Most Precious Substance on Earth (McClelland & Stewart, 2021), which was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award for fiction. Her short fiction has been published widely, including in three editions of Best Canadian Stories and two Journey Prize Anthologies. She won the 2018 Journey Prize and was a finalist for the Bronwen Wallace Award. On top of her writing, she is also the editor-in-chief of EVENT magazine and teaches creative writing at Douglas College.

Your debut novel came out with an indie publisher, Cormorant Books, in 2013 and then your second (most recent) came out with McClelland & Stewart in 2021. Did you notice a big difference between the two experiences—in working with the editors, publicists, etc. at one of the big five vs. with a smaller press as well as in how much attention each book received once they were published?

There was certainly a difference. People tend to assume my most recent book was my debut novel, because they’ve never heard of the first one. This keeps me humble. The difference was not in how much the publishers cared—Cormorant had faith in me when I was 25 and had published basically nothing—but in the level of resources they could afford to put toward one book and one author.

I do wonder how much of that depends on the individual editor or publicist, etc., and on other factors. I’ve been stunned at the amount of work and time my editor, Anita Chong, puts in, but I doubt every editor at a big publishing house offers that quality of feedback. And oddly, my first book had more national reviews, while the recent one was mostly covered in smaller, regional, or independent publications, likely because of how limited review space in Canada has become, and because it was released in the busy fall season with a pile of delayed pandemic books. Still, this book was on those CBC lists and the previous one wasn’t. With this one, copies were sent to Instagram book influencers. There was a lot of tweeting. How readers discover books has changed.

Awards have played a significant role in your writing life so far, in that you’ve won a lot! You were a finalist for the Writers’ Trust RBC Bronwen Wallace Award in 2010, then in 2018, you won the Writers’ Trust McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize for your story, “Mute,” and your latest novel was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award. How do you think awards have played a role in your career, and any thoughts on awards in general and how much they do seem to matter to industry types and readers?

I’ve been lucky, because awards open doors. And I know how subjective those selections are and how many good stories or books are overlooked. So much depends on timing. I only submitted to the Bronwen Wallace Award because my dad happened to see an ad for it in the paper and mentioned it to me, and I happened to have a story that fit the word count. I gave a reading at the award ceremony and a friend of my first editor, Marc Cote, happened to hear it and suggested he contact me. I happened to have a manuscript I’d been shopping around unsuccessfully to agents, and Marc made me an offer. Then when I was up for the Journey Prize, my former agent Stephanie Sinclair (now publisher at McClelland & Stewart) reached out, and again, I was lucky to have a novel draft. She offered representation and sold it to M&S. Awards bring visibility. It’s tough, because you could be a fountain of talent but still miss some step in the chain of luck and timing that leads you to a book deal.

As editor-in-chief of EVENT magazine, can you share some thoughts on the important role literary magazines play in both emerging and “emerged” writers’ careers?

I’m biased, because without first publishing in The Dalhousie Review, I wouldn’t have won the Journey Prize, which, as I described above, was pivotal. And while I do think lit mags are a stepping stone to awards and anthologies like the Best Canadian series, as well as book publication, I don’t believe that a writer should graduate to writing books and then leave lit mags behind. Lit mags are passion projects run by people who are underpaid but pretty damn driven to find something fantastic to read and bring it to a (small but invested) set of readers. At lit mags like EVENT, we don’t think too hard about what will appeal to a broad market. (We apply for a lot of grants.) We publish what we like and what we think is exciting and skillfully written and often underrepresented.

Also, it’s nice sometimes to write just a single story—maybe it’ll be years, if ever, before you write a whole book—and to send it to some people who will appreciate it on its own terms.

Your other “day job” is teaching writing at Douglas College. Some argue that writing can’t be taught—what would you say is the most important thing a writer will gain from doing an undergraduate or graduate degree in writing?

Time to write, pressure to write (in the form of deadlines and more talented peers), and community. Being around people who take writing seriously. I tell workshop students that this might be the only opportunity in their lives to have a group of people read their writing and treat it like it matters.

How do you manage your time between editing EVENT, teaching, and writing (i.e., how and when do you find time to write)?

God only knows. I don’t have children. I don’t vacuum all that often. I ruthlessly cut people from my life (no, just kidding). What’s been most helpful for me is meeting other writers in cafes to get work done. I try to schedule three or four of these sessions a week with different people, because I find it easier than writing alone at home.

What are your thoughts on Goodreads? Do you think authors should ignore it, worry about it, engage with it? Do you ever use it to decide whether or not to read a book?

I’m so scared of Goodreads that I installed a browser extension to keep me from looking at it (along with RateMyProfessors.com). It’s called BlockSite if anyone is interested.

Before I did that, I read Goodreads and felt sick and that sick feeling would follow me around while I was trying to write new things or just like, live my life. My recent book involves a survivor of sexual abuse, and there were reviews blaming her for not standing up to her abuser. Somebody called my first book a waste of taxpayer dollars. There are wonderful reviews, too, of course, but those are never the ones that linger in your mind. It helped to realize that books I knew were brilliant also had cruel reviews from people who just weren’t the right readers for them. Also, anyone can write a review on Goodreads. Like that guy at Shoppers Drug Mart who heckled me for buying two bags of Hickory Stix one time could have written those Goodreads reviews. What does he know about literature?

How do you deal with the deflating side of being an author—not being mentioned on lists of books “we’re anticipating,” not being on awards lists, negative reviews, etc.?

The Safeway near me has these Coffee Crisp cupcakes that sometimes go on sale, and those have been very helpful in that regard.

I noticed that when my first book came out, I didn’t have any of those deflating feelings. I wasn’t on Twitter; I had no idea when the Giller longlist would be announced. I probably thought the GG was some internet slang I hadn’t heard about. I had zero expectations and was just beyond excited to have published a book. I took selfies at various Chapters/Indigo locations. With my next book, I want to strive bring down my expectations. This sounds like I’m joking, but I mean it. I think low expectations make for less disappointment. Also, it helps me to realize there are tons of writers feeling the same way about not making whatever list. It’s not just me.

What would be your number one piece of advice for an emerging author (a) creatively and (b) about the business side of writing?

(a) Write about something you really care about, the thing you can’t stop thinking about.

(b) Try to choose a day job that feeds your writing in some way, whether by generating creative energy or freeing up your time. Don’t be afraid to trial-and-error your day job (other life circumstances permitting) until you find one that works for you. I moved 6,000 km for my current job. Before that, there were several years when I could barely muster up the energy to write at all.

I know you have a book of stories coming out soon with McClelland & Stewart. Can you tell me a bit about it and about what you’re working on next?

Thanks for asking! The stories are about the everyday horror and isolation of being a woman and having a body, so they explore themes such as bodily autonomy, sexual assault, chronic and invisible illness, and aging. The book will be out in spring 2024.

Shashi Bhat is the author of the novels The Family Took Shape, a finalist for the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Award, and, most recently, The Most Precious Substance on Earth, a finalist for the Governor General's Award for fiction. Her fiction has won the Writers’ Trust/McClelland & Stewart Journey Prize and been shortlisted for a National Magazine Award and the RBC Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers. Her stories have appeared in such publications as The Fiddlehead, The Malahat Review, Best Canadian Stories, and The Journey Prize Stories. Shashi holds an MFA in fiction from the Johns Hopkins University. After living in several cities, including Halifax, Shashi now lives in New Westminster, B.C., where she is the editor-in-chief of EVENT magazine and teaches creative writing at Douglas College.