OVER THE EDGE January 26, 2007 Dr. Rob Budde’s Gybw Side The UNBC Professor on His New book Flickers, and the Prince George Writing Scene TYLER CLARKE PRODUCTION COORDINATOR Walking into Rob Budde’s office it’s obvious he’s an Eng- lish professor. Well-read books line the walls of his small clut- tered office, joined by several more stacks throughout, in a collection that should bring about jealousy in most English majors. Everything from Karl ‘Marx to Michael Ondaatje line these walls, and have been con- sumed by their owner. It should come as no sur- prise that Budde, is a descend- ant of Gypsies from Bohemia. During his childhood he moved 13 times in 20 years, finally set- tling in Winnipeg for 12 years where he attended University, moving to Calgary for a couple of years to further his Univer- Stock photo courtesy of unbe.ca sity studies, and then Prince George where he’s settled as a professor for the past 6 years. Anyone who has taken one of Budde’s creative writing classes will agree that he pro- . vides a creative atmosphere in the classroom wherein one can create pieces of literature uniquely their one. It’s only fitting that Budde’s latest book, Flickers, contains a unique col- lection of poems whose defin- ition is ambiguous, as the back cover attests in stating that it’s either a “short-short story, [a] prose poem, [or a] micro-fic- tion.” The inspiration for these “flickers,” as he refers to them, came about through Winnipeg poet Mirth Rosser, who he studied with during his days in Winnipeg. “I was encouraging her {her ‘flickers”] were really cool,” Budde recalls. “And they’ re real- ly hard to write... You have to write enough story and enough content and emotional input in a page and a half, but she was really good at it...” Budde says, adding that it’s a shame she hasn’t produced much writing since then. , Rosser’s . poems resulted in Budde getting addicted to writing them, which would ul- timately result in Flickers, his latest » bookreleased under Signature books. Flickers _rep- ’ resents poetry he --* began during his -». days in Winnipeg, _. Tunning all the way , up to Prince George. During the intro- -ductory pages it’s stated that Flickers isn’t necessarily autobiograph- ical, a statement whose sig- nificance becomes clear once you’ve read the book. With ongoing references to children, Winnipeg and Prince George in. the unique inter-joined prose poems, it’s obvious that at least some degree of reality is pre- sented in this book. The poems range between a few lines and a page and a half long, and are linked together in some way to present a broader and longer story, the first focusing on the poet’s life, the second on wood, and the third on death. Sometimes the links are harder to pinpoint than others, though in some way a general feeling comes across, be it isolation-or love of some sort. because I thought . Because “Flickers” was such a detour into the realm of creativity, publishers had dif- ficulty justifying the book as marketable, a problem Budde states is an understandable problem many writers have with their publishers. The first attempt at publishing Flickers failed, as the press said “They wouldn’t know how to market it,” as Budde recalls. “They wouldn’t know what section of a book store to put it in. On one hand, the publisher has to think about this kind of thing. I’m going to be hearing this for a long time so I have to get used to it.” His second attempt, with Signature books in Winni- peg was more successful. Being rejected by publish- ers is a reversal in roles for Budde, who used to be in the opposite position of being the one rejecting poetry, as he used to be an editor for the literary magazine Prairie Fire. Rejection is something all writers have to get used to, good and bad alike. With Prairie Fire, Budde recalls that they’d “get around 400 pages [of poetry] submitted. [Of them] there were some real dogs, but of those 40 might be great poems.” Another thing aspiring writ- ers may be interested in learn- ing is that Prince George, as Budde sees things, is the ideal place for a writer to be. Aside from-the only downfall, which is that there are no publishers to “rub elbows with,” there are nothing but positive things Budde has to say about, the city’s writing scene. Although Winnipeg and Calgary, the two cities that Budde lived in before Prince George, are substantial- ly larger than Prince George, Budde prefers Prince George, because writing in Prince George is less constrained and club-ish than in the larger cities. In Prince George, Budde says, “you have a smaller and more diverse and tightly knit writ- ing community.... If you’re a writer in Prince George you’re closer to the land, you’re close to broad political thinking, and you see the lumber trucks drive through town... [In Calgary] there’s a lot of pressure to write like everyone else. Here I get to choose who I read.” When asked for tips that as- piring writers in Prince George would be interested in, Budde says “Come see me!” Natur- ally, seeing the foremost au- thority on creative writing in Prince George would be the ideal thing to do. Other tips he gives are to be aware of and attend writing workshops that occur around Prince George from time to time, to check out GAIA, the UNBC creative writing club, and to hang out with other writers. Naturally, writing is the most important thing an aspiring writer should do. On his future work, Budde says that he is changing genres again, which isn’t surprising considering the wide variety of literature present in his of- fice. This time he’s writing a science fiction novel. He’s al- ready completed another poet- ry book, called Finding Fort George, and contains poems written in Prince George. This book, to be released by Harber books should be released in either the spring or fall of this year. Promoting Finding Fort George will be somewhat of a drag to Budde. Not because he isn’t proud of it, but because he has already moved on to new things, and Finding Fort George is already old news to him. Budde has continued to write constantly, writing at least a few poems a week, alongside working on his science fiction novel. This is all in taking his own advice given during his creative writing classes of con- sistently producing new work, as there is always way for-.cre- ative writers to grow. Another thing aspring writers may be intersted in learning is that Prince George, as Budde sees things, is the ideal place for a writer to be. Aside from the only downfall, which is that there are no publishers to “rub elbows with,” there are nothing but positive things Budde has to say about the city’s writing scene.