Pulitzer Prize finalist and long-time climate and wildlife activist Lydia Millet will be discussing her anti-memoir, We Loved It All: A Memory of Life, with poet Stephen Brockwell at the Ottawa International Writers Festival (OIWF) on Saturday, May 4.
The OIWF describes Millet’s newest book as exploring “the pain and joy of being a parent, child, and human at a moment when the richness of the planet’s life is deeply threatened.” It also considers feelings of powerlessness in the face of this crisis.
Lydia Millet. Photo provided.
Millet took the time to answer a few Apt613 questions about We Loved It All in preparation for her upcoming event.
Apt613: We Loved It All has been highly anticipated in some pretty big literary circles. What can readers expect from the book?
Millet: It’s a book about the stories we tell each other, ourselves, and our kids about our place in the world in an age of climate change and mass extinction—the possibility of recognizing our duty to the other creatures we share the planet with and trying our best to save them before it’s too late.
It looks like your writing to date has been mostly fiction. What prompted your choice to write your most recent work as non-fiction? In your opinion, what is the impact of that choice?
I wanted to write something highly personal and highly subjective that also tackled the big subjects that have been weighing on me and that, I think, are weighing on so many of us who feel overwhelmed by all the bad news and chaos filtering down constantly through the media and our screens.
Fiction wasn’t the best place for that kind of direct exploration, so I tried something new. New to me, anyway. It’s an adventure to leave your comfort zone. Both as a writer and as a person.
What kind of feedback have you received about the book?
I’ve been so delighted when it’s meant something to readers. The book is close to my heart.
Grab tickets for Lydia Millet’s event and others at the Ottawa International Writers Festival website.
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