Toronto’s Word on the Street Book & Magazine Festival runs June 11 & 12 at Queen’s Park Circle. In preparation for the event, we’re profiling some of the writers who will be featured during the festival.
The Author Spotlight Series shines a light on writers creating heartfelt and original work across genres, giving them an opportunity to talk about their books and why they do what they do.
Click Here to follow the series as it progresses.
To submit an author for consideration, email editors@myentertainmentworld.ca.
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“Cody Caetano is a writer of Anishinaabe and Portuguese descent and an off-reserve member of Pinaymootang First Nation. He has an MA in Creative Writing from the University of Toronto, where he wrote this memoir under the mentorship of Lee Maracle. Excerpts of Half-Bads in White Regalia earned him a 2020 Indigenous Voices Award for Unpublished Prose.”
When did you know you wanted to be a writer?
In tenth or eleventh grade.
Do you remember the first thing you ever wrote?
A list of every song I liked on a white piece of paper in the eigth grade. I began archiving different interests and aspects of my life and then that turned into song lyrics and some op-eds for the high school newsletter – the Patrick Fogarty Flame, and then it kept going and going!
How did you develop your skills?
Practice, early support from my fellow writers, workshops, failure, readings, belief, joy, consistency, and especially delivery.
Who are some of your biggest literary influences? Do you have a favourite book/author?
A recent favourite was Dog Flowers by Danielle Geller.
How would you describe your work?
Half-bad.
What’s your writing process like?
Sporadic and joyful and finicky.
Tell us about your most recent book.
A memoir that celebrates and enshrines the gift of storytelling and childhood with rhythm and ferocity.
What are you working on now/next?
Another memoir, a novel, some op-eds, and lots of emails. And myself, always!
Cody is doing a reading at WOTS this Sunday June 12 from 4-5 PM EST