Hello art lovers!
We are continuing on with our exploration of local pro artists who have been able to maintain a practice while living rurally, which is no small feat! This month we will get to know local author Roz Nay, who has become quite well known in the literary world.
From her website: “Roz Nay’s debut novel, Our Little Secret, was a national bestseller, won the Douglas Kennedy Prize for best foreign thriller in France, and was nominated for the Kobo Emerging Writer Prize for Mystery and the Arthur Ellis Best First Novel Award. Her second bestselling novel, Hurry Home, was shortlisted for the Crime Writers of Canada Best Thriller of 2020. The Hunted, her third book, came out in July 2021 and was nominated for Best Crime Novel 2022. Roz has lived and worked in Africa, Australia, the US, and the UK.”
What’s your background/training/story as a writer?
I taught high school English for eight years, but found I couldn’t teach in Canada without retraining. It was a blessing in disguise, because it turned me toward pursuing writing. I took the Selkirk College creative writing class in 2011, wrote a homework assignment as part of it, and later took that very page and turned it into what would become my debut novel, Our Little Secret.
Why did you end up in Nelson?
I’d been living in a cool little artsy town on the west coast of Australia called Fremantle. My husband and I had just had our baby boy, and needed a grandmother within much closer proximity. Some guy in a bar in Freo said, have you ever been to Nelson, B.C.? If you like it here, you’d like it there. Turns out, he was right.
What keeps you here?
Summer. The lake. The mountains. Our kids, who are now really happily plugged into their young lives here. I get homesick sometimes (I’m originally from the UK) but Nelson has been a great place to raise a family, and the arts scene here is unprecedented for the size of the town.
How did you score your book deal?
I researched three Canadian agents who were looking for the kind of thriller I had, then sent it out to each of them, carefully hitting all their differing submission requirements. Within four days, I had two requests for the full manuscript, and then the next day, an offer of representation. Once I’d signed with an agent, I had a book deal within the month. I realize that’s an annoying story and kind of a dream launch. I think it’s a combination of timing, luck, and hard work.
Any hot tips for people who want to live rurally but be a professional writer?
You have to learn to run with the big kids, and compete with writers who’ll be a lot less expensive to promote or invite to events by their publishers, most of whom are city-based. Mainly, though, I think it’s important to believe that wherever you live, you can create the kind of work that pushes to the front. In the end, it’s about the writing more than it is the zip code.
Any information that you want me to put out about your new books that you want to tease??
I just signed a two book deal with Penguin Canada for my fourth and fifth thrillers. The Offing will be out July 2, 2024 and it’s about two backpackers who take crew jobs on a small yacht in Australia, only to find that the problems they’ve left behind on land are about to worsen once they’re beyond cell phone range and the harbour.