Just one day after winning the 2013 Griffin Prize for Poetry, David W. McFadden told the Hamilton Spectator (June 15, 2013, article by Amy Kenny) that he felt “fine.” “‘Finer than usual,’ he elaborate[d] with some prodding.” Is this style of understatement typically McFadden-ish, or simply typically Canadian, or neither? Decide for yourself by reading one of McFadden’s works (say Five Star Planet or There’ll Be Another) – or by listening to this short interview, recorded in 2004 at Book Expo Canada by the Literary Press Group of Canada. The interview, in which McFadden speaks – again in this style, understated yet implying the superlative – about his book Great Lakes Suite (1997), was conducted by Joe Blades, publisher of Broken Jaw Press and poet.

This interview is republished here with permission from Joe Blades and the Literary Press Group of Canada.