Meet The Team
tali voron-Leiderman
Managing Editor.
Q&A
What’s the last book that made you cry? Were they tears or happiness, sadness, frustration?
TVL: Bird Suit by Sydney Hegele. I'm an emotional reader, and I was so moved by certain scenes in the book.
Do you have a recommendation for readers hungry for CanLit?
TVL: Support indie publishers! Keep an eye on their catalogues, attend book launches, buy (or borrow) books, and spread the word about books you love.
Is there a book someone recommended to you that surpassed your expectations?
TVL: I was recently recommended Stoner by John Williams. I heard it described multiple times as the perfect novel and was eager to see if it lived up to the hype. My expectations were already high, and I was stunned by the book. Williams' writing style is nothing short of beautiful. He manages to capture the depth of human experience and emotions in a way that is both authentic and heartbreaking. It's a book that I'll definitely reread.
What’s the biggest risk you took, and what was the reward?
TVL: I've taken a number of risks in my life and to me, they always felt radical. It meant doing something that caused uncertainty or felt frightening – pursuing a different career path, moving to a new city, starting a venture from scratch. The saying "no risk, no reward" is true. Every risk I've taken has paid off more than I ever imagined and has led to new opportunities, personal and professional growth, and has introduced me to incredible people that I never would have met otherwise. Learning to trust my intuition, become comfortable with uncertainty, and discovering that it's never too late to start over or try something new, was perhaps the greatest reward.
What's the strangest job/task you've done (in or outside of the literary industry)?
TVL: One of the most rewarding, and intricate, freelance projects I've done was creating a master timeline of five loosely interconnected novels written by the same author. The timeline tracked all events that took place across the books and the trajectory of each character (their personalities, details mentioned about them, their relationships with other characters, and when/if they died). It was incredible to dive so deeply into one author's work and the worlds they created.
What's the most interesting class you've ever taken (academic or otherwise)?
TVL: I completed a minor in Psychology during my undergraduate degree, and one of the most influential courses I took in the program was Positive Psychology. It was fascinating to learn about what truly makes humans happy – and what doesn't, and the way that our perspective shapes the way we experience life's most joyous and most difficult moments.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever found at a flea market, antique store, or yard sale?
TVL: I live close to a farmer's market that's open every weekend. On my first visit there, I discovered an expansive stall that sells used books. All the books are part of a personal collection that the owner accumulated over his lifetime, and he truly has a little bit of everything. I was blown away!
owen percy
Reviews Editor.
Q&A
What book do you wish you could read again for the first time?
O.P: The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I was transfixed by it when I read it, finished it in a single sitting, and was in tears by the end of it, and that was before I had children, and before the world seemed to be teetering on the brink of, well, The Road.
What's the last book that made you cry? Were they tears or happiness, sadness, frustration?
O.P: Inland by Téa Obreht, and mostly from awe.
What’s the worst piece of writing advice you’ve been given?
O.P: Stop.
Do you have a piece of writing advice you’ve been dying to share?
O.P: Write. Don’t talk about it, or watch videos about it, or listen to podcasts about it. Just write. That’s what makes you a writer. All the rest of it just makes you an observer.
What, do you feel, is the most poetic fruit?
O.P: At first I thought of the plums in the icebox, then of various sketches of a lemon, but I think it would have to be the pomegranate; it’s imperfectly round, vibrantly coloured, and full of little bursts of jelly and juice arranged and fixed in fascicles shaped like, and as singular as a human heart.
What's a skill you'd love to learn?
O.P: Traditional stonemasonry.
What’s the best thing you’ve ever found at a flea market, antique store, or yard sale?
O.P: I found a picture frame I really liked at a flea market in Edmonton several years ago, and it had a photo of Oprah in it (cut out from a magazine). I put it on my desk at school with the intention of putting a photo of my family in it but before I could, a student—trying to break the ice in an awkward office hour—asked me if that was a picture of my wife. I said yes, but then they realized it was Oprah, and it got weird. So I’ve kept in on my desk ever since. Some former Ampersand interns actually made me a coffee mug with a photo of the picture frame on my desk, which now sits beside the picture frame itself.
paul vermeersch
Managing Editor.
Coming Soon!