Christopher DiRaddo

Originally, I was nervous about this interview but I’m happy with the way it came out. The Centre de recherche interuniversitaire sur la littérature et la culture québécoises (CRILCQ) asked QWF’s Executive Director Lori Schubert and I if we would interview each other about Quebec’s English-language literary scene, as part of a series they were working on called « ÉCRIRE EN ANGLAIS AU QUÉBEC ». I was flattered that they thought of me/us (how often does a French organization in the province put a spotlight on English writing?), but I was also worried that I wasn’t going to do it justice. Even though I was president of the QWF for several years, I’m not an expert. I never studied Quebec literature. But then I realized I could speak about it as someone who lives in it. Share what my impressions are of this wonderful community I have been fortunate to be a part of for almost two decades.

You can listen to the interview here. There are also three other interviews in the series.

It’s hard to believe that this was only two months ago, but in early December 2021 I hosted my first in-person Violet Hour in almost two years. Fierté littéraire had invited me to present a series of readings for their Salon du livre 2LGBTQIA+, and I was thrilled to once again be onstage with writers with new books.

In this video, you can hear me reading from The Family Way (I finally got to wear my “Free Dad Hugs” shirt that I had bought when I thought I’d be able to do real-world events). Joining me onstage were Sami Basbous (Heal the Boy), Marusya Bociurkiw (Food Was her Country: The Memoir of a Queer Daughter), Helen Chau Bradley (Personal Attention Roleplay), and Eli Tareq El Bechelany Lynch (The Good Arabs). Enjoy!

This was a fun assignment.

Late last year, Xtra asked me if there was a favourite book of mine I’d like to write about for their Queer View Mirror series, which looks at works from the LGBTQ back catalogue from a personal lens. I immediately thought of Andrew Holleran’s 1978 novel, Dancer from the Dance.

No other work has had more of a profound impact on my writing. I re-read the book every two years because, 1) It’s such a delight to read—funny, heartfelt and wise, and 2) I hope to strengthen my craft, and tune my own writing to his pitch. In tribute, I named the two cats in The Family Way after its protagonists, Malone and Sutherland. If he ever reads that copy I sent him, I hope he’s not offended. Those characters are so important to me—as they would be to Paul—and I wanted to communicate that books like Dancer are also an essential part of our queer family.

You can read my essay here: The siren song of Andrew Holleran’s 1978 novel ‘Dancer from the Dance’

I had some time off last week and tried my hand at creating a trailer for The Family Way. The book comes out in the US/internationally on September 1st, and I thought it would be a fun thing to do to mark its publication. I had a lot of fun making it (maybe I’ll cut one together for Pluto now, too).

What I decided to do was take a few of the endorsements I’ve received so far and set them to images and music. The hardest part was selecting which photos to use. At first, I tried searching for free images online, but there is a limit to what you can find when googling “gay friendships.” Instead, I went through my own digital stash and selected a bunch of personal photos taken over the years in Provincetown.

Like for my characters, Provincetown holds an important place in my life. I’ve been six or seven times over the years, and each time I’ve gone the experience has been transformative. The small seaside village has been the location of so many dinners and laughs and trysts and tears. Everything is heightened when you’re there, from the love and sex and desire to the drama and heartache and insobriety. It’s the perfect place to let your characters grow.

Thanks to my friend Peter for the use of some of these photos (and to other friends who appear in cameo). Here you’ll see photos of me and Leon in the waves, my partner Greg enjoying a slice of pizza outside of Spiritus, Wes and Greg walking arm in arm down Commercial, old friend Brent applying a smoky eye to Neil before a night out in the bars, and a pink sky outside of Tea Dance.

Of course, there are a few Montreal shots too, hence the snow. That’s Theo (my Malone) in the window of our home. And then there’s Greg heading out into the snow.

I could get used to this. Once more, my face graces the cover of a publication I’ve been reading for years. So thankful to the team at the Montreal Review of Books (otherwise known as the mRb) to include The Family Way (and me) so prominently in their summer edition. You can read the article here.

To celebrate the launch of the issue, we gathered at the beginning of the month at the Dépanneur Café on Bernard for an in-person event (watch it here). It was fun, but strange. People at tables could be unmasked, while those of us circulating wore ours, removing them ever so often to take a sip of wine. On stage, the three of us readers could take off our masks, but then would need to put them back on to rejoin those in the room. Still, it felt good to finally be at a literary event in person. Hopefully, this is just the beginning.

One more thing: Big thanks to Marlon Kuhnreich for taking such amazing photos. It was so much fun spending the afternoon getting to know him while trying to get the shot. You can check out his work here and here.

I launched The Family Way from my home in Montreal last night. It was a very different event from the one I had often imagined while writing the book. Who knew a pandemic would get in the way of my plans? When launch day came, I still had no idea how to feel. So many of my friends had to do it this way too. Solider on, I thought. But I have to say, I was surprised at how much fun I had—how much joy I felt, just sitting at my desk and staring into my computer like I had most days for the past year. I loved every minute of it. My host, Rachel Giese, had prepared such thoughtful questions. And I could see the great number of friends and family watching from their homes. I was alone but I didn’t feel alone. I felt supported. To everyone who came, thanks.

If you missed it, no worries. You can still see it below.