Photo credit: Katherine Holland
By Carlie Blume
@carliejblume
In our current economic climate, it seems a rare thing to encounter a writer whose sole focus is their own writing. Now more than ever we are seeing established writers juggle a variety of projects and side gigs and without a doubt Chelene Knight is one such writer—yes, you might even assign her the honorary title of CanLit multitasker.
Not only is Knight the former festival director of Room Magazine’s Growing Room Literary Festival, as well as Room’s former Managing Editor but she’s also the author of the poetry collection Braided Skin (Mother Tongue Publishing), as well as the hybrid memoir Dear Current Occupant (Book*hug Press). Both books won the 2018 Vancouver Book Award and was long-listed for the George Ryga Award for Social Awareness in Literature.
You might think all of this would be enough to fill her calendar over to the brim, but Knight has a lot more up her sleeve.
Recently, she’s been busy developing her online creative writing studio Learn Writing Essentials and its sister venture, Breathing Space Creative; an intermediary style business aimed to assist writers as well as their publishers through the, at times unpredictable and precarious terrain of CanLit (that can sadly include racism, sexism and homophobia). For Knight it’s a pursuit that naturally blossomed out of her desire to not only write and share her stories but to feel safe within the industry.
With the Growing Room Festival coming up in March Loose Lips had the chance to chat with Knight about her time at the helm.
“Being Festival Director was an incredibly humbling experience. I loved discussing authors and their books,” shares Knight. “We were, and still are, grass roots and this year the new festival director Jessica Johns is taking things to a whole new level! I left the position to focus on my own business and Room has been super supportive.”
Currently Knight still manages to stay involved with Growing Room by serving on the festival’s programming committee, but currently, she’s focusing more on finding a way to channel the vision and care she put into Room with her businesses Breathing Space Creative and Learn Writing Essentials.
When asked what the literary industry is in most need of at the moment, she insists that it is time and care. “Writers need time to focus ONLY on writing. A majority of the writers I know hold down multiple jobs and have families. So the industry needs to offer time and care. Breathing Space Creative is about adding additional layers of support for authors and publishers so that we can all breathe a bit easier and focus on the work we need to do. We wanna take all those hats off!”
If anyone knows the weight of those hats it is Knight herself who quit her day-job to start her two businesses. “I trusted myself and you better believe there’s no way I am stopping now. I found my home in this industry and writing myself into the narrative is a common thread for me.”
When it comes down to it, supporting new and established artists is the driving force behind all she does. She encourages people to buy local writers’ books, show up to events, share resources (even if it’s just a link to an article) and networking opportunities or to simply ask for help.
“Just the other day I was standing at the bus stop and it started to rain. A stranger walked up to me and put her umbrella over my head. I’ll never forget it. A small act. A kind act. Care in its purest form,” shares Knight. No matter how established a writer is, or how “business-minded” they are, we all need help at some point. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not speaking their truths.”
Carlie Blume is a writer of fiction and poetry. Her writing centres on women’s issues, motherhood, mental health and the sexual politics within relationships and marriage. She loves crisp autumn evenings, Yacht Rock and Murder She Wrote.
