Kinsella adds another trophy to his case

By Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun, June 9, 2009

Author W.P. Kinsella has revealed the secret that made him the success that he is today: Get to the point and stop when you are done.

"The man who turned my career around was Victoria author W.D. Valgardson," Kinsella told the Sun.

A struggling graduate of UVic's creative writing program in 1975, Kinsella turned to his mentor when he could not sell his stories.

Valgardson read his work and ripped off the first page and the last page-and-a-half and handed Kinsella's manuscript back to him.

"He said, 'Look, you warm up for a page before you start your story and you wind down for a page and a half after you finish it,'" Kinsella recalled. "'Don't do that.'"

Kinsella stopped doing that and has sold nearly every word he has written since.

"Without Bill Valgardson, I would be a retired taxi cab driver with 33 unpublished manuscripts under his bed," he laughed.

As it turns out, Kinsella is a celebrated author with a case full of awards and is an officer of the Order of Canada.

After today, Kinsella will just have make a little extra room in his trophy case for the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award.

Kinsella will receive the award from Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson in a ceremony at the main branch of the Vancouver Public Library tonight at 7 p.m. Kinsella, author of Shoeless Joe and numerous novels and short stories, will give a reading and reflect on his life as an author.

"I think a lifetime achievement award sounds pretty final, but I'm always happy to see my work recognized," Kinsella said.

"I have helped a lot of young writers over the years but I have had a lot of young writers come up to me over the year -- ones that I have never met -- and say that I influenced them," Kinsella said. "That always makes me feel good."

Kinsella will read his favourites tonight: pieces from The Alligator Report, an excerpt from a Frank and Silas story and passages from the novel Box Socials.