Pearl Luke - fiction, novel

Pearl Luke is the author of two critically acclaimed novels: Madame Zee (2006) and Burning Ground (2000), both published by HarperCollins Canada. Burning Ground was a Globe and Mail notable book of the year. It won the Commonwealth Prize for Best First Novel in the Canada/Caribbean region and was short-listed for the Chapter/Robertson Davies Prize, the Georges Bugnet award, and the Canadian Booksellers’ Libris award.

Formerly, Pearl Luke taught English Literature and Advanced Composition, working at the University of Calgary, DeVry Institute of Technology, and at Instituto de Technologico de Monterrey. Her stories, reviews, and nonfiction articles have appeared in numerous newspapers and magazines across the country. She is currently at work on her third novel, Not About Will. Visit her website at www.pearlluke.com.

Teaching Philosophy

Writers benefit from instruction wherever they can find it--books, classes, workshops, and particularly one-on-one mentorships. Advice from one source may well contradict another source, but this is all as it should be, as mentors, like readers, approach writing from varied perspectives. It is impossible to please everyone, and on publication writers quickly learn that what pleases one critic will affront another. This makes writing criticism much like dream interpretation--its value lies in how the interpretation resonates with the author. Writers should focus on comments that are valuable to them at this particular moment in their career, and leave anything that doesn't feel 'right' for the time when it does.

I view writing from both a holistic and a craft perspective. I encourage by pointing out what already works in a manuscript, and I instruct by offering solutions and pointers on perfecting craft. I believe that innovation has maximum impact when it is based on a solid knowledge of craft, so craft is my focus. Great writing is not about the quick fix. It is, instead, a process of detailed improvements and layering, where one problem resolved makes room for another option that deepens the effect of the writing. Writing is not about being clever. A good story must elicit an emotional response in the reader, and to elicit that response, the writer needs to know what effect is desired.  My goal is to help clarify that purpose, and to bring the desired effect to fruition.