Kat Cameron’s Writing Space
The window in my office overlooks a red maple. The seedling was given to me by a neighbour in Ontario after the death of my first husband in 1993. My parents planted the seedling in their back yard, expecting it to grow into a shrub (Edmonton winters are not kind to maples). Instead, it’s a 30-foot tree whose leaves turns yellow and rusty orange each fall. The tree reminds me to defy expectations.
I spend weekday mornings from 9-12 at my desk, unless I’m teaching or working as a mentor. We built the garden suite on my parents’ property seven years ago when my mother, who has Parkinson’s disease, needed additional care. Each morning I turn on CBC Radio Two and open whatever file I’m currently working on: revising my latest poetry collection or writing
another page of the first draft of my historical novel. On the right side of my computer is a cup of coffee; on the left a notebook with poetry drafts, scribbled dialogue, and Tudor history. At 11:00, I take a 20-minute break to walk the dog—she’s very insistent about her scheduled walk.
From my window I can see the maple, an elm, the stump of a dead birch that serves as a feeder for nuthatches, and a huge blue spruce. The urban treescape of Edmonton inspires me, from bare branches to green canopy. In the summer, I read and revise on our second-storey deck, overlooking the trees.
Kat Cameron (she/her) is a poet and short story writer. Her second collection of poetry, Ghosts Still Linger, won a High Plains Book Award in 2021 and was a finalist for the Stephan G. Stephansson Award. Her collection of short stories, The Eater of Dreams, was shortlisted for the Danuta Gleed Award in 2020. She is a recipient of a 2024 Alberta Foundation for the Arts grant. Her poems have recently appeared in Alaska Quarterly Review, Capital City Press, Paragon Press, and the Literary Review of Canada.