Hi book friends!
I’m thrilled to host the incredibly talented and generous Danila Botha on the blog today. The story of how we met is something I’ll always remember and cherish because it marked the true beginning of my literary career and I’ve been fortunate to still be doing the thing I love all these years later. We met back in 2015 at a Quattro Books book launch event held at the Supermarket in Toronto. A few of us were launching novellas (THE ESCAPE ARTIST for me) and the main event was the launch of Danila’s debut novel TOO MUCH ON THE INSIDE (more about this below). It was a magical night full of wonderful readings and mingling with writerly folks. I still remember getting to chat with Danila and have her sign my book, and how honoured I felt when she suggested that we have another reading together sometime. It’s been a joy watching her career and I can’t wait for you all to discover what she’s got on the horizon.
Congratulations on your success, Danila, and thanks so much for stopping by to chat with us today!
A xo
AK: THINGS THAT CAUSE INAPPROPRIATE HAPPINESS is your third collection of short stories. Can you tell us if there’s a unifying theme which connects them and if that was a conscious choice, or something that revealed itself later on?
DB: That’s such a great question. When I first started writing it, there actually wasn’t. The first story in the collection, Sometimes I Like to Shoot Kids (which is about a photographer) was actually the first one I wrote, and I was really excited when Dane Swan included it in his anthology Changing the Face of Canadian Literature (which was also published by Guernica Editions in 2020). Sometimes a first publication can really shape the way you start envisioning a collection. I spend a lot of my time writing short stories, so I don’t always know until I have at least a few that are connected, but the theme of identity and displacement, and cultural and religious identity and defining oneself in and out of relationships (romantic and friendship) came up a lot in this collection. I always try to push myself to explore things in depth, to push my characters and the situations beyond their limits to see how they would manage, or what would happen. Like in An Alligator Eyeing a Small Fish (which sees a young writing student overdosing on opiates and meeting an adult Anne Frank) and in Always An Angel, Never A God (about a woman who defends her husband against the indefensible) or in All Good Things Take Time (about a woman who goes to great lengths to fake a pregnancy) I think are good examples of this.
I also realized I really love to write women who disrupt the status quo, who do what they want to do, regardless of what we normally think of as right or wrong. It’s so interesting to write them, to suspend any judgement. I started to go there in my last collection, For All the Men (and Some of the Women) I’ve Known with the story Wolf Eyes, and I took it even further this time with stories like Black Market Encounters and When You Play with Fire. (Even I was surprised by how far they went.)
I also explore Jewish themes in a way that I hadn’t before, in more depth. It was also not planned; I think the first one I wrote was about a character who realizes she’s bisexual, and tries to reconcile that with her Orthodox Jewish upbringing (Soulmates) and then it all snowballed from there. Don’t Look Back was really fun to write.
I’d been doing Holocaust research for my graphic novel, and I was so moved by certain stories I’d read that they made their way in (Able to Pass, Dark and Lilac Fairies, From the Belly of the Whale and Proteksiye and Mazel).
The collection ended up being much longer than I expected, and I’m really grateful to my publisher and editor Michael Mirolla for all of his support and patience and enthusiasm. It was such a wonderful experience, working with him and the whole team.
📖
AK: I’ve always been impressed by authors of short stories, primarily because I’m not particularly good at them, haha. What is it about short fiction that you love and has you coming back to again and again?
DB: This is such a great question too! (And I’m sure your short stories are as wonderful and moving as your novels and novella.) I love writing short fiction and I love reading it. I have eight book shelves filled with nothing but short fiction (in addition to the hundreds of novels and art books and graphic novels that I own).
I love the economy of the form, the challenge to give everything significance. I love that there’s only space for so much backstory or description for example, so all decisions have to conscious, and have to be serving the narrative. I love that you can just jump into characterization and voice without as much preamble or scene setting as you’d need in a novel. I really love the craft aspects of it, I could talk about it all day. I also love that short stories don’t have to answer every possible question – I love the possibility of open-endedness or temporary resolutions that you know aren’t really the answer. I love the possibility to trying anything – any character or scenario or voice. I think there’s so much freedom in writing short fiction. And as a reader, I love how easy it is, you’re busy, you have a lot to do, but there’s always time to read at least one story. And if you can’t get back to it for a little while, when you do pick it up again, there’s a brand new story waiting for you (unlike in a novel, where if you leave it for a while you have to go back and reread because you’ve forgotten important details).
I know for some writers, short fiction is a stepping stone (to novels and other things) but for me, it’s always been my true love. It gives me so much pleasure and enjoyment (even the most challenging writing days are good ones when I write short fiction) and I hope to do always be able to do it.
📖
AK: Do you have a favourite in the collection?
DB: Oh, that’s a tough one. I think the title story, because it was really fun to combine writing about Rheumatoid Arthritis (which I have in real life) and the debilitating aspects of it, and trying to still create, while envisioning Leonard Cohen as a kind of art store angel figure (I’m a huge fan, so it was really fun to write). That’s something that the artist in the story really struggles with (along with the side effects of Prednisone which bizarrely include, according to the warnings on the label, inappropriate happiness). I started to wonder what exactly that meant, and how I could express that in an unexpected way. I had also just read Emma Straub’s This Time Tomorrow, and I wanted to try to do a deep dive back to the 90’s, which included 90’s playlists and pre-smart phone life and that was fun. I also had fun with the messages created in the story There’s Something I’ve Been Meaning to Say to You (which is about how someone dealt with the pandemic) and Love Me Til I’m Me Again (whose came from the light installation outside Toronto’s Galleria Mall, and is about a really meaningful, life sustaining friendship).
AK: What’s your best advice for writing short stories?
DB: If you love doing it, write them. I always did but I was advised not to early in my career. Some people insisted that short fiction doesn’t sell as much as novels, or certainly as Creative Non Fiction, but I think as with anything, if you really love it, and you’re passionate about it, and you commit to working on the craft of it as much as possible, rewriting, editing, researching etc- it can really work well. I think to do the kind of work that it takes to do anything well, you have to love doing it, be open to feedback while still trusting your own instincts.
When I did my MFA at Guelph, my thesis was actually a novel (my novel A Place for People Like Us, which is coming out with Guernica in 2025). I find novel writing really challenging – I enjoy it, but not nearly as much as I love writing short fiction. One of my mentors was Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer and after my thesis defence, when I knew there was lots of work ahead of me to make it publishable, but I was also struggling a lot with it, Kathryn said: “Leave it a lone for a while. Go write some short fiction, it’s your thing and it’ll make you happy. Then come back to it later.” I’m so grateful to her for giving me permission to take my short fiction that seriously, above other forms. I don’t know that I had until then. (So if you love it, don’t be afraid to take it seriously.)
Another piece of useful advice from that program was from Russell Smith’s. He talked about making outlines for short stories, like a blueprint to remind ourselves where we wanted to go – and I found that super helpful for stories where I had multiple ideas that merged in strange ways, it helped me to keep track of what I was trying to do.
AK: I’m excited that you have a new novel on the horizon, too! Can you tell us a bit about it and when it will be out in the wild?
DB: Thanks so much for asking. It’s called A Place for People Like Us, and it’s coming out with Guernica in 2025. The title comes from a line in a Denis Johnson short story called Beverly Place, the final story in his classic collection, Jesus’s Son.
It’s about two best friends, with a complex dynamic who keep serious secrets from each other. It also explores religion, privilege and ambition, growing up in a cult, and trying to move a way from a past even if one is still entangled. It also deals with all kinds deception, complex family dynamics and lies. I’m excited to share it with you (and everyone).
AK: Your wonderful novel, TOO MUCH ON THE INSIDE, has been optioned for film or episodic series by Pelee Entertainment, which is beyond exciting! Can you give us an update on how things are going with that and when we can delight in seeing your work on the screen?
DB: I was so thrilled the day I got that email, I was walking in Kensington Market and I had to literally pinch myself. I couldn’t believe it. It was such a wonderful, delightful piece of news to receive. Heidi Lasi is amazing, and her enthusiasm and support has been such a gift. When I know more details, I promise to share them.
📖
AK: Lastly, what are some things you’ve read lately that you can’t stop raving about?
DB: Oh wow, I’ve been reading a lot of great books in the last few weeks. I’ve read such great short fiction; Cursed Bunny by Bora Chung, Her Body Among Animals by Paola Ferrante, Home is a Made Up Place by Ronit Plank, Our Lady of Mile End by Sarah Gilbert, Vilna My Vilna by Abraham Karpinowitz, the Whole Animal by Corinna Chong, Denison Avenue, to name a few. I’ve read such great novels too, including River Mumma by Zalika Reid-Benta, which is fantastic, Kantika by Elizabeth Graver, The Circle by Katharena Vermette, The Clarion by Nina Dunic and Jones by Neil Smith. They’re all amazing (and my TBR pile is currently massive, as always).
I remember reading about Lauren Groff’s writing schedule, and how it always involves hours of reading everyday, as part of her practice. I love that and I’ve tried to implement it ever since.
Anita Kushwaha, Author 
Leave a comment