Carolyn Smart’s Writing Space
38 years ago when my husband and I bought this house in the middle of the woods we added on two rooms: a bedroom in the attic, and my writing space. It’s a large and airy room, filled with light, and has now become a sort of greenhouse for which I am
especially grateful in the winter.
The desk on the far eastern side of the room once belonged to my mother and is a treasured piece. The view from where I sit looks deep into the woods and in Spring a very marshy area popular with ducks and deer. Once I saw two wolves running through the trees. Last year I saw a river otter hopping past.
On the southern side of the room is an old table that features a grouping of ornamental elephants I have collected throughout my life. They are spread around cacti and succulents that love the sun.
I need quiet and peace in which to write, and I have both in abundance in this room. I am surrounded by my favourite books, family photographs, and memorabilia from years
of writing and teaching.
Carolyn Smart has written six collections of poetry including Careen, Hooked, and The Way to Come Home (all from Brick Books). A section of her memoir At the End of the Day (Penumbra Press) won 1st prize in the CBC Literary Contest, Non-Fiction category. For three decades she taught Creative Writing at Queen’s University. She is the founder of the Bronwen Wallace Award for Emerging Writers, and since 2021 has worked as an editor and mentor for emerging writers.