Introducing BookThug’s New Interns: Kelly and Stacey

BookThug is welcoming some new interns this month: Kelly Duval and Stacey Seymour!

We (Kelly and Stacey) are MA students at Ryerson’s Literatures of Modernity (MA) program, and we’ll be managing the blog for the next several weeks, as well as helping out at the BookThug headquarters. We’re both really excited to be here, and we can’t wait to get started. Here’s a bit more about who we are:

Tell us about yourself and how you ended up at BookThug.

Kelly: I grew up in Montreal and did my undergraduate degree at Concordia University in the Honours English Literature and Creative Writing program. I worked as a news editor for the university’s paper and have also contributed to a few local blogs, while I mainly write poetry and short fiction. I’m thrilled to be interning at BookThug as I finish up my MA degree.

Stacey: I’m from Ottawa originally, and I did my undergraduate degree at Queen’s University in the Concurrent Education/Arts program with a major in English. After doing my BAH and my B.Ed at Queen’s, I came to Toronto to do my MA in English at Ryerson, and that’s where I had the opportunity to get involved with BookThug. My writing experience is mostly academic in nature, though I have dabbled in poetry a little bit. I’m really excited to get to learn and work with such a great press for my first foray into the world of publishing. 

What are some of your literary interests?

KD: Rather than narrowing my interests this year, they actually seem to have expanded. I’m especially interested in Romantic and Victorian literature, women’s writing, rhetorical criticism and contemporary poetry and fiction.

SS: I’m interested in a lot of different areas that don’t necessarily go together (it’s an eclectic set of things). Generally, I’m most interested in intersections between science and literature, but I’m also into rhetorical studies in narrative and science, feminism and the body, and Romantic literature. I’ve also recently broadened my interests to include more 20th century and contemporary works.

What’s on your writing playlist?

KD: I’ve recently been listening to Pagans in Vegas by Metric. I like the instrumental songs at the end of that album, as I usually can’t listen to music with lyrics when I’m writing.

SS: I usually listen to a whole album on repeat when I’m writing; I can just let it play through over and over again, and it gets me in a writing mood. My latest one was Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace by the Foo Fighters.

What book are you reading right now?

KD: As we’ve just finished up the coursework for our program, it’s great to be able to start reading for pleasure again. I’ve picked up quite a few BookThug books, of course, and I’ve recently started Bunny and Shark by Alisha Piercy. Like Stacey, I’m also looking forward to starting Fifteen Dogs soon.

SS: Fifteen Dogs by André Alexis. Some of my peers in the Ryerson MA program have just started a book club, and this is the first book we chose to do (but I’m also reading My Dinosaur on the side).

Which book from the Spring Catalogue are you most looking forward to reading?

KD: This is not a fair question. I’ve began reading some of the poetry collections and I’m really looking forward to continuing those. I’m also excited to read Jacob Wren’s Rich and Poor, as I didn’t want him to stop reading from it at the recent BookThug Spring Launch.

SS: All of them. Seriously, ALL of them. But, I’m especially excited about Buoyancy Control by Adrienne Gruber. I just picked it up at the BookThug Spring Launch, and I’ve been dying to read it since I saw the spring catalogue.

What’s one interesting fact about yourself?

KD: I have an affinity for wearing clothes and jewelry with animals on them, especially birds. I notice this whenever I’m packing to go somewhere and they take over my suitcase.

SS: I’m really good at imitating animal sounds, especially goats/sheep. My friends and I used to play this board game that involved sheep, and we would make the noises at each other all throughout the game, so I got lots of practice.

Thanks for checking out our bios, and keep an eye on the blog page for more updates for the BookThug world!