“I think I was a bad writer before I discovered that I could use humor effectively and that I could use it at all. Being able to crack into just something and use humor kind of broke open a little bit of a creative gate that was really holding me back.”

In this episode, Dina Del Bucchia discusses developing her own comedic voice outside an academic setting and bringing humour to cultural critique. She discusses:

• 1:39 | Marrying humour to the emotional core of the story
• 3:15 | Encouraging students to write comedy that “punches up” in her introduction to comedic forms class
• 6:09 | How seeing Wooly Mammoth skeletons at Whitehorse’s Beringia Interpretive Centre inspired her to write her collection “It's a Big Deal!”
• 8:44 | Writing about class from a working class perspective, and selling $40 business books that will never be released in paperback
• 12:43 | Her story collection “Don’t Tell Me What to Do” and writing women’s anger
• 15:20 | Getting students to write song lyrics in class and the unexpected pandemic content it produced
• 18:22 | Hosting the podcast Can’t Lit and giving a platform to writers from smaller presses

Guest Bio:

Dina Del Bucchia is the author of three collections of poetry, Coping with Emotions and Otters (Talonbooks, 2013), Blind Items (Insomniac Press, 2014), and Rom Com (Talonbooks, 2015), written with Daniel Zomparelli. She also hosts Can’t Lit, a podcast on Canadian literature and culture, with Jen Sookfong Lee. Her short story, "Under the 'I'," was a finalist for the Writers' Trust RBC Bronwen Wallace Award in 2012. Her first collection of short stories, Don’t Tell Me What to Do, was  published in fall 2017 with Arsenal Pulp Press. She is a senior editor of Poetry Is Dead magazine and is the Artistic Director of the Real Vancouver Writers' Series. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia, where she currently is an instructor.

About the Podcast:

Parallel Careers is a monthly podcast about the dual lives of writers who teach. Few writers make their living from publication alone; many fill the gaps with teaching in both academic and community settings. Much of the work is precarious, and there are few opportunities for professional development.

Parallel Careers features writers with diverse practices and points of view—writers who are at the top of their game in both craft and pedagogy. Tune in to hear the big ideas and practical tips they take into their classrooms. Take their insights into your own class or craft.

Credits:

Parallel Careers is produced by Claire Tacon, in partnership with The New Quarterly magazine. Erin MacIndoe Sproule is our Technical Producer and Story Editor. Music composed by Amadeo Ventura. Financial and in-kind support provided by the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund, St. Jerome’s University, and the Government of Canada.

Access more free writing and teaching tips from Dina Del Bucchia at:

tnq.ca/parallel

You can find Dina’s work here: 

It’s a Big Deal! 

Don't Tell Me What to Do 

Rom Com

Blind Items

Coping with Emotions and Otters