Kelly S. Thompson on writing about hard things Literary
By Fiona Campbell
A ward -winning
author Kelly S. Thompson doesn’t shy away from writing about hard things. Her first memoir, “Girls Need Not Apply: Field Notes from the Forces” (McClelland & Stewart, 2019) was about harassment and sexism in the Canadian military. Her second, “Still I Can Not Save You” (McClelland & Stewart, May 2022), is about grief, addiction and the loss of her sister to cancer.
sister because it’s the book I needed when she died. And it didn’t exist. And, I think this is true for a lot of writers, it’s how we move through the world and try to understand it no matter what” she says.
Chatting with Thompson from her current home in North Bay is like connecting with a friend you haven’t seen in a while but the conversation picks up effortlessly. There is an unbridled joyfulness when talking about craft, and a confidence from writing her way through the fire. And yet she’s open (both in speaking and in her writing) about her mental health struggles, notably her anxiety and depression. Given this, I’m curious about her motivation for memoir and tackling hard things: “When I’m having a really hard time writing, I will ask myself, 'Who needs this book?’ I’m writing this book about my 30
I first connected with Thompson for the Prince Edward County Arts Council’s 3rd Annual Wind and Water Writing Contest. She lived in Trenton between 2014 and 2019, and launched the con-
