20th Anniversary Spotlight: Carellin Brooks
Our 20th-anniversary celebrations continue with another Author Spotlight interview. Today, we’re shining a light on the one and only Carellin Brooks. We’ve had the great honour of publishing two books by Carellin, including the multiple award-winning novel, One Hundred Days of Rain, and her debut poetry collection, Learned. Carellin is a delight to work with and one of the funniest people we’ve ever met. We’ll never forget the day she and her partner organized a picnic and beach outing for us during our trip to Vancouver in 2023, but that’s another story…
In our Q&A with Carellin, she shares what it means to be part of the Book*hug author family, a title from fellow Book*hug Alex Leslie that has left a lasting impression on her, and generous thoughts on what it means to be published by an independent press like us. Happy reading!
B*: What does being part of the Book*hug Press author family mean to you? Please share an anecdote, reflection, or backstory about your publishing experience?
CB: The personal touch is the main thing that stands out. Recording in the basement and hanging out with people like Hazel and Jay who have such a breadth of experience of the Canadian literary scene. I clashed with Jay over both of my book covers. He ignored me, but in a bigger publishing house, I wouldn’t even be talking to the publisher.
P.S. He was right. Both times.
B*: Can you share another title from the Book*hug Press catalogue that has left a lasting impression on you as a reader? Tell us about a book that has been a touchstone for you, one that you found meaningful, interesting, or simply loved.
I loved Alex Leslie’s We All Need to Eat. It was a really interesting compendium of queer and Jewish experience, including intergenerational resonance with some of the lived realities of the main character’s forebears. There are some beautiful explorations of loss and grief.
B*: When we see more large publisher consolidations and huge conglomerates dominating the marketplace, what does it mean to you to be published by an independent publisher like Book*hug Press?
CB: I appreciate the fact that even though Book*hug is assiduous in terms of marketing, they are anti-corporate in their ethos. While I am sure that the big conglomerates are filled with people who love books, I am also pretty sure that sales drive most decisions. Being with a press that cares so much about the work, however challenging it may be to sell, is very cheering. On a personal level, they also let me submit my last book in three different formats before finally accepting it!
Stay tuned for more 20th Anniversary Author Spotlight interviews to come!
