and writing: perhaps especially for those who wish to learn how to read and write more astutely and more caringly. Here you will find the reflections of one of North America's finest contemporary writers, author of some 20 books of fiction and nonfiction, founder of the pioneering Creative Writing Program at Concordia University in Montreal and two-term Director of the prestigious International Writing Program at the University of Iowa, teacher of and mentor to many. Reflections set down in 40 years? worth of conversation by Clark Blaise with fellow writers such as John Metcalf and Alexander MacLeod or with scholars such as Catherine Sheldrick Ross and the volume's editor, J.R. (Tim) Struthers.

Highly respected nationally and internationally by scholars and creative writers for his work as a small press publisher, editor, literary critic, interviewer, and bibliographer, J.R. (Tim) Struthers has edited some twenty-five volumes of theory, critical essays, autobiography, fiction, and poetry -- including works in honour of or by such important Canadian writers as Clark Blaise, George Elliott, Jack Hodgins, Hugh Hood, John Metcalf, Alice Munro, and James Reaney. Tim is the author of the first two scholarly articles, world-wide, on Alice Munro and has been described by W.J. Keith, FRSC, as "probably the best literary interviewer in Canada." Together with John Metcalf, he coedited Clark Blaise's Selected Essays. Still a very enthusiastic teacher of English, Tim has now devoted more than thirty years of full-time service to the University of Guelph. He lives in Guelph with his bride of forty years, poet and scholar Marianne Micros.