Each year, the University of the Fraser Valley welcomes an experienced Writer in Residence (WIR) to join the campus community for a semester. The Writer in Residence is available to students who want advice, guidance, or consultation on writing. Despite being an award-winning author with a PhD in English Literature, Richard Kelly Kemick describes himself as“just a normal person.” Kemick has published works spanning from the realm of non-fiction, short fiction, plays, and even a bit of journalism.
The Cascade sat down with Kemick and his young son, Sullivan, to talk about his writing, his background, and what he hopes to come of his time at UFV.
You’ve been on campus for about a week now, can you describe your experience thus far in one word?
“I’m getting lost a lot, so I want to say labyrinthine.”
Tell me about how you came to find yourself at UFV.
“I was a presenter at the literary festival here two years ago. [And] I know Rob Taylor from literary stuff [so] when the posting for the Writer in Residence came up I heard about it and applied.”
And how long will you be here for?
“I will be here until [the] end of March.”
Do you have a campus bestie yet?
“The security guard. The security guard has given me directions a few times.”
How would you describe yourself?
“Normal. Just normal. Really, just like a normal person.
“I used to not tell people I’m a writer for a few reasons. When you tell people you’re a writer one of the first things they ask is what have you written? Or what do you write? I feel like it’s a situation [where] what they’re really saying is are you a successful writer? There’s like a suspicion and a kind of demand for proof, which I’m sure just exists all in my fucking head.”
I’ve noticed a slight hesitancy to talk about your own work, do you feel like you struggle with imposter syndrome at all?
“When ask[ed] to quantify my writing [it feels like] it comes across as an imposter talking about my own work … I will edit a piece for so long that when it’s done I feel like the last thing I want to do is talk about it … It’s just way more exciting or interesting for me to talk about other writers’ works … A lot more fruitful comments can be made about the writing of other writers. It’s sort of hard to comment on your own work.
“It’s very kind and generous when someone says, I thought this about this trait of the character, which was unspoken … And I don’t want to be like, that’s right, or that’s wrong.”
In an ideal world, what influence would you like to have on students at UFV?
“When I was in school, a poet really encouraged us to submit our writing. He found students would write and then tinker for years without submitting to journals or publishers … If he hadn’t told me that, maybe I wouldn’t have submitted, and if [he hadn’t said] there’s an onslaught of rejection, I feel like that rejection would have been debilitating to me. So he encouraged you to submit, because you would get rejected, just because it’s part of it.
“I feel like [that was] him saying: go out there as a writer. I feel like I was really fortunate to have learned that lesson when I did in my life. So maybe that’s what I’d like to encourage.”
What would you, personally, like to get out of your time at UFV?
“It’s really edifying to work in an office. It’s very ‘big kid’ … It’s also nice to chat with students and faculty, writing is often so solitary. It’s nice to be in a community.”
In a couple articles online it’s mentioned that you were raised Catholic. Would you say that’s influenced your relationship with writing at all?
“I think because I went to Catholic school … there’s like a worshipping of stories, a value of stories, that I don’t think would have necessarily been conveyed in a public school. I think that maybe kind of got the ball rolling on me writing my own stories.”
You seem to be somewhat politically inclined, does this influence your writing?
“One of the many weaknesses in my personality is that I’m obsessed with Canadian politics. Oftentimes I feel like it’s a shortcoming in my writing, that it’s not politically engaged … I don’t know why my interest in the news, Canadian politics in general, hasn’t translated into my writing.
“There’s nothing more tiresome than a novel that’s trying to get you to agree with a political point. The political point is often so broad and ubiquitous that everyone at the fucking literary festival already agrees … By no means would I ever dissuade someone from writing about politics, even in a fictional capacity … I think there’s a difference between writing about politics or including politics, and writing politically, where the former is like an exploration of the ideas and systems under which we currently live, and then the latter is a championing of a soul idea. And I think in that the writer assumes they’re right and better than the reader, that the reader needs to be corrected or educated in that way.”
Your dog is all over the internet, does she help you write?
“She does. We actually put her down 12 days ago and actually, I have been kind of worried about it. I started writing seriously, with intent and drive, and career ambition in Fredericton, and it just naturally coincided with getting Maisie. As long as I’ve really been trying to be a writer, she’s been with me.”
If you could be an animal what would you be?
Sullivan: “A fox!”
Kemick: “A fox would be great. I would go with fox.”
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Darien Johnsen is a UFV alumni who obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree with double extended minors in Global Development Studies and Sociology in 2020. She started writing for The Cascade in 2018, taking on the role of features editor shortly after. She’s passionate about justice, sustainable development, and education.