Neil Surkan – Empties
Neil Surkan interview segment
Produced by Trevor Marc Hughes
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Current Poet Laureate of Nanaimo Neil Surkan has a new collection of poems out in the world now. It’s the third he’s managed to produce while also teaching at Vancouver Island University. At the Nanaimo campus of VIU, he tells The British Columbia Review, this collection, Empties, “spans five years of writing, revising, and doubting…and growing.” But also present in this collection is fatherhood, and being a father during a time of climate change and political upheaval.
The British Columbia Review Interview Series is grateful for the support of Creative BC and the Province of British Columbia to produce a second round of interview segments as part of ‘Beyond the Lower Mainland: The BC Author Video Road Trip.’
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Trevor Marc Hughes was a freelance arts reporter at CBC Radio from 1997 to 2007. In and around that time he worked as a researcher and associate producer on documentary and current affairs programs that aired on Knowledge Network, The Discovery Channel, and Discovery Health, and were produced by Transatlantic Films, the UK’s oldest independent film production company. His own documentary projects include The Young Hustler, a film he produced and directed, about his grandfather’s days operating a Fraser River tugboat during The Great Depression. He has recently uploaded his interviews with Susan Juby, Craig Taylor, Liz Hammond-Kaarremaa, Nancy J. Turner, Wiley Wei-Chiun Ho, and Catherine Clement.
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The British Columbia Review
Interim Editors, 2023-26: Trevor Marc Hughes (non-fiction), Brett Josef Grubisic (fiction)
Publisher: Richard Mackie
Formerly The Ormsby Review, The British Columbia Review is an on-line book review and journal service for BC writers and readers. The Advisory Board now consists of Jean Barman, Wade Davis, Robin Fisher, Barry Gough, Hugh Johnston, Kathy Mezei, Patricia Roy, and Graeme Wynn. Provincial Government Patron (since September 2018): Creative BC. Honorary Patron: Yosef Wosk. Scholarly Patron: SFU Graduate Liberal Studies. The British Columbia Review was founded in 2016 by Richard Mackie and Alan Twigg.
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