There’s a marvelous interview with 2008 Clarion teacher Nalo Hopkinson in the Sunday Books section of Halifax, Nova Scotia’s ChronicleHerald.  The interview, which took place at April’s Halifax International Writers Festival, focuses both on Nalo’s career and her 2007 novel, The New Moon’s Arms, a work it says “shimmers with light and radiates with heat, especially from the central character, Calamity.”

Calamity, the novel’s protagonist, is a very lusty, at times cranky, and menopausal woman. Hopkinson explains that she wanted to create a 50-year-old character who could be real, who could suffer from arthritis, gain weight, and yet be “heading to 60 and still be sexual.”

For Calamity menopausal energy reignites powers she had as a young girl.

Throughout the story Calamity struggles with many things — including a tension-filled relationship with her daughter, and an unresolvable family secret — but as often as not Calamity struggles with herself. Her tongue is as sharp as a shark’s tooth and she speaks before she can stop herself from saying too many things that hurt those she loves.

Great — just what I needed: another ‘must-read’ for my mile-long must-read list.