Writing about racism requires a directness that writing a love story does not.

When I wouldn't leave home without my blue contacts or when I was bleaching my hair, I didn't have the language to articulate that I was trying to assimilate to whiteness. If anything, I was trying to "look normal."

Now is not the time for Canadians to be sanctimonious. It is time for us to be prudent and active.

When I do book readings, I always incorporate music or singing.

I would love to see more dialogue around the "responsibilities" of art consumers - how can audiences better financially support artists we love, artists who are doing the work, so that artists have a more solid foundation upon which to make art?

I continue to explore poetry.

I feel like I have had to catch up to the art I've made, and learn from the protagonists I have written, especially in relation to gender.