Port Colborne's Bookmark: Sheree-Lee Olson

Q and A with Sheree-Lee Olson

Before the tenth ever and final 2011 Bookmark unveiling for Sheree-Lee's novel Sailor Girl, the Ontario: Read It Here team got Sheree-Lee to answer some of our literary questions. Sheree-Lee talks about life aboard a ship versus life as a journalist, her favourite locales in Ontario for reading and writing and what Port Colborne means to her.

When did you write Sailor Girl? How long did it take?

Way too long. It actually took 25 years – longer than Odysseus took to get back to his wife. I started it in my 20s, put it away till my 40s, finished it in my early 50s. Of course by then the story had completely changed.

What inspired it?

The indelible experience of spending two years of my life on enormous Great Lakes freighters – two years spread over seven summers -- while I financed a couple of university degrees.

What does Port Colborne mean to you?

It means Lock 8 to me, the southernmost point of the Welland Canal, gateway to the Upper Lakes and beautiful skies and wild weather.

Why did you choose it for this story?

It’s an important signpost – arriving at Port Colborne from the Upper Lakes meant you had the next 12 or 24 hours in the Welland Canal while the boat negotiated the eight locks – there might be a letter waiting at the Marine Post Office, there might be a chance to get off the boat and buy shampoo. Or rum.

What is your favourite place to write in Ontario?

Cobourg – not to be confused with Port Colbourne -- is a former port town on Lake Ontario where I used to take my kids every summer to stay at an old motel called The Breakers on the Lake. I did some of my best writing there, in earshot of the waves. Even though I only ever had a week or so. The sound of the water was helpful.

What is your favourite place to read in Ontario?

For reading to an audience, the Roselawn Author Series in Port Colbourne was awesome. They treated me like a rock star, which will probably never happen again. But probably once is enough.

Other than your own, what story or poem do you most closely associate with a place in this province?

Voyageurs, a historical novel by Margaret Elphinstone, was a revelation. The French voyageurs were the original Great Lakes sailors, and they could paddle forever, without eating or stopping. They had really developed shoulders, apparently.

Is there a book/poem that you feel really defines Ontario for you?

Okay, this is corny but I still love "Land of the Silver Birch" – which I learned when I went camping with my Brownie troop somewhere near Kingston. I also ate five hotdogs in one night on that trip.

What were your greatest challenges in writing this story?

Fitting it around all the other stuff – full-time job, kids, house repairs, a relationship.

How does ship life compare to working at a national newspaper? Are there any similarities?

Weirdly, yes, there are similarities. When I’m on deadline and screw something up I feel like I’m back in the galley with the chief cook yelling at me about the toast I just burned. And we’re talking 25 years later. I’ve clearly developed my own internal chief cook.

Top Hat Ceremony

Each year, Port Colborne organizes a special welcome to the first boat arriving at the Welland Canal at Lock 8 (usually happening sometime in early March). This event is called a "Top Hat" Ceremony because the Captain of the lucky ship is given a top hat to wear and a bottle of champagne, used to christen their boat as a welcome to spring and the beginning of another shipping season.

As you can well imagine, the weather in March is unpredictable at best. Some years have been mild and sunny, others have seen snow and ice. Generally it can be expected that it will be wet, windy and downright chilly.

City officials and residents make the most of it however, gathering outdoors in anticipation of spotting the ship. As an extra special treat, pancakes are cooked and served up to the brave folks and the crew. Liz and I are guessing that there is no shortage of tea, coffee and hot chocolate either.

Through the thorns came the words: a look into The Porcupine’s Quill's voyage to publish Sailor Girl

Like nearly all small, Ontario-based publishers, The Porcupine’s Quill (also known as PQL) has not been immune to financial struggles throughout its lifetime. And, again, like most small, Ontario-based publishers, it once contemplated, and came very close to, closing its doors. It was right around this time, in 2005, when Sheree-Lee Olson came into the fold, contacting PQL about her unpublished manuscript of a semi-autobiographical novel about shipping on the Great Lakes. She wondered, was PQL interested?

What Olson didn’t know was that the publisher of PQL, Tim Inkster’s, grandfather was famed shipping Captain Walter Inkster, somewhat of a legend on the lakes. Shipping was in Tim Inkster’s blood, and he was very interested in Olson’s manuscript, but PQL was unfortunately not in a financial position to take on a new, unsolicited work. In fact, Inkster was going to have to take drastic measures in order to stay afloat, if that could even be managed. So Inkster sent word to Olson, detailing his regrets about being unable to publish her manuscript.

What Inkster didn’t know was that Olson was the current Style editor for The Globe & Mail, and he was quickly contacted by one of her colleagues wondering if he minded that the opinions he shared privately with Olson about the state of The Porcupine’s Quill went on the record. In his email about her manuscript, Inkster was, he feels, probably too open to Olson about PQL’s failing financial status.

Distracted by his financial problems, Inkster agreed to go on the record, not thinking any harm would come from it. When an article was later published in The Globe & Mail about PQL’s troubles and how Inkster planned to deal with it by cutting his staff and book list, the funding bodies let him know that it was not wise to be so publicly candid about his frustrations with the publishing industry. Whoops!

Inkster retreated from public commentary and over the years, managed to find himself still in business. Olson’s story stayed with him though, and two years later, Inkster decided to contact Olson again in order to inquire about whether her manuscript had ever been published. It hadn’t.

Sailor Girl was published in 2008 by The Porcupine’s Quill. Exquisitely designed, its cover features a near-hidden self-portrait of the author, and the inside covers display beautiful maps of the Great Lakes. Features inside the book include period photography taken by Olson and porthole designs to signify section breaks.

When asked about PQL's current publishing program, Inkster revealed that they “publish much less fiction than we once did,” but didn’t elaborate if that was for financial reasons, a result of a change of direction for the publishing house or a consequence of lackluster fiction manuscripts. They “very rarely, but occasionally” accept unsolicited manuscripts.

When asked if PQL’s location in Erin influenced or affected their choice of what work to publish, Inkster claimed it did not, but teased an interesting story as to why PQL is located in Erin. Declining to give further details, Inkster merely stated, “There is an interesting story about WHY we are in Erin, but it's a LONG story.” Perhaps you’ll have to make the visit to Erin and The Porcupine’s Quill find out.

You can read more about Captain Walter Inkster here.

Readings at the Roselawn: Port Colborne Canadian Authors' Series

Now in its 18th season, Port Colborne’s Canadian Authors’ Series (otherwise known as Readings at the Roselawn) kicked off Thursday, September 29th, with a reading by Sheree-Lee Olson. Olson read from her current novel, Sailor Girl, which is published by The Porcupine’s Quill. Readings at the Roselawn started through the efforts of author, inaugural reader and Port Colbornite, William Thomas. In an arrangement that turned the Roselawn Centre Theater from an old boys club into an arts and culture hub, Thomas devised the reading series, promising to bring authors to Port Colborne. And Thomas has certainly delivered on that promise, attracting big names like Mordecai Richler, Adrienne Clarkson, Peter Mansbridge, Lloyd Robertson, David Suzuki and Margaret Atwood, to name only a few.

When asked what the reading series means to him, Thomas joked, “It means I don’t have to drive to Toronto!” In all seriousness, Readings at the Roselawn has become a favourite of authors, and has brought the celebration of reading to Port Colborne, where Thomas postulates that the series has helped sell 10,000 books during its time, which is remarkable considering the town does not have a bookstore. It is an accomplishment of which Thomas should certainly be proud.

Thomas selects his annual honourees through examining bestseller lists and hounding big name authors, though he insists there are “no rules.” Sometimes, he gets lucky and authors he’s been asking for years say yes, or even return (Atwood has read twice). Olson was a special choice for the series because her novel, Sailor Girl, pertains to the Port Colborne area. According to Thomas, Olson’s work has “great resonance in Port Colborne.” Calling it a “great read,” Thomas expanded on what Olson’s work has meant to the citizens of the town. “(We) see the boats, we think we know the boats,” Thomas said over the telephone, perched at his desk overlooking Lake Erie, but he admits that they don’t really know what boat life is truly like, and because of Olson’s work, “there’s a whole new world out there.”

Readings occur on the last Thursday of every month from September to May (with a break in December and January). Other scheduled authors for the 2011/2012 season have been Bob MacDonald, host of CBC Radio’s Quirks and Quarks, and bestselling author Wayne Johnson, who read in October and November, respectively. For ticket inquiries, please call (905) 834-6098.